Black History Month: Malcolm X lecture series considers legacy

Fifty years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. led a march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, an event that is the subject of this year's Academy Award-nominated film “Selma.” One scene of the film featured a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it portrayal of Malcolm X, the controversial civil rights activist and African-American Muslim minister. Malcolm X’s small role in the film mirrors the muted attention the forthcoming anniversary of his death has thus far received; the outspoken human rights advocate and Muslim minister was assassinated on February 21, 1965, 50 years ago this month.

At Princeton, an ongoing series of public events titled “Contemplating Malcolm X 50 Years Later” commemorates the anniversary of Malcolm X’s death and examines his controversial legacy. The lectures and film showings, which will continue until Feb. 18, wereorganized by the Muslim Life Program, the Center for African American Studies and the Fields Center.

“The legacy of Malcolm X is celebrated and also contentious,” Muslim Life Coordinator and Chaplain Sohaib Sultan said. “Fifty years later we should take some time to contemplate… [his] legacy in today’s world. It’s especially important with Ferguson and many other events across the country — we are really thinking about civil rights anew.”

On Tuesday, the series kicked off with a speech by Ilyasah Shabazz, one of Malcolm X’s daughters. Shabazz was two years old at the age of his assassination.

In her speech, Shabazz covered a variety of topics, including the prevalence of hate crimes perpetrated by youth in contemporary Americanand the importance of giving children equal opportunities.

“I believe that every child must have the opportunity to be their greatest selves,” Shabazz said.

The speech was peppered with anecdotes about Shabazz’s memories of her father, which she described as “flickering images and moments spent with him.”

At one point, Shabazz quoted her father’s speech at Oxford University, in which Malcolm X quoted the “To be or not to be” speech from Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.”The speech was important, Shabazz said, because it revealed a different side of Malcolm X, who was typically depicted in the media as a reactionary advocate of violent protest.

“He was a man of great compassion and integrity,” Shabazz said later when discussing Malcolm X’s work on human rights.

The lecture will be followed on Friday by a showing of Spike Lee’s 1992 film “Malcolm X,” starring Denzel Washington. The film will be screened at the Forbes College Theatre at 5 p.m.

“That movie is not only a powerful dramatization of the ‘Autobiography of Malcolm X’,” Sultan said, “but it also marks the moment in which the reputation of Malcolm X is reconsidered and brought back.”

The film was critically acclaimed at the time of its release and renewed public interest in Malcolm X.

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“[The film] popularized what Malcolm X was about. And so, it’s interesting that many people in this generation haven’t seen the movie,” Sultan said. “I want to get the movie screening so that people get to experience [and consider Malcolm X].”

The series continues on Monday with a lecture from Dr. Saladin Unbar, the author of the 2013 book “Malcolm X at Oxford Union.” The lecture is titled “Malcolm X Reconsidered: A Voice for Our Times” and will be held at 7 p.m. in the Fields Center.

A panel titled “Malcolm X: Life After Death” featuring professor Sohail Daulatzai, chaplain Kameelah Rashad and hip-hop artist Brother Ali will conclude the series next Wednesday. The panel will be held at 6 p.m., also in the Fields Center.

“My hope is that people will free Malcolm X from the image of being this angry radical black man, [the way in] which he is so often portrayed,” Sultan said, “to being someone who was very charismatic and very serious… and had a lot to contribute to the civil rights movement.”