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Malcolm X

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:8,000.00 - 10,000.00 USD
Malcolm X

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Auction Date:2016 Mar 09 @ 18:00 (UTC-5 : EST/CDT)
Location:236 Commercial St., Suite 100, Boston, Massachusetts, 02109, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
Early TLS, two pages, 8.5 x 11, June 28, 1954. Letter to his mentor and the leader of the Nation of Islam, Elijah Muhammad. In part: “Yesterdays attendance will show you why I don’t like to miss being at #7 myself on Sundays. Last Sunday we had 27 lostfounds, and yesterday we topped even that, with 28 Lostfounds. We’ve even topped our previous attendance records, with 188 present for the day. This coming Sunday I am going to be pushing them to top the 200 mark…A genuine Unity seems to be coming into being here at #7, thanks to Allah, and I’m certain the Progress you desire to see Muslims make, will be made here. Everyone seems to be trying to outdo the other in Fishing. By the way, I sent a challenge to #1, that we intend to bring in more fish than any other temple by October. If I can instill within them the spirit to try and outdo us in catching Fish, they too will really be growing (without even realizing it). Also #2, if you want to tell them that #7 has challenged them to a Fishing Contest perhaps the challenge will inspire them to get out and bring in the Many Yet-Unscaled Fish that are right there in that big city…Something must be done to get this dead man, and the answer to our problem will always be realized whenever we can get the Muslims Themselves to go out Fishing, instead of ‘teaching.’ The best was to do this is to dangle a potential prize before his nose, and then he’ll get up and go after the dead….yes sir, we have to Bait our own Muslims into becoming Fishermen. We have to bait them into becoming Baitors. In other words, we must Fish For Fishermen. Do you see what I mean.” In fine condition.

This letter dates to shortly after Malcolm X was made the leader of Temple Number 7 in Harlem, where he rapidly expanded membership thanks to the intense mobilization described here. His soaring rhetoric and outspoken civil rights activism made him one of the most prominent—and controversial—black leaders in America during the 1960s. A phenomenal letter from the beginning of Malcolm X’s rise, and the earliest known letter from him to Elijah Muhammad.