Malcolm X's family preserves legacy 40 years after assassination By MADISON J. GRAY NEW YORK (AP) - He was one of the most charismatic and feared figures in the civil rights movement, a former convict who abandoned his ’slavemaster name," energized the Nation of Islam and met a violent end at 39. Four decades after his death, Malcolm X has inspired another movement by his family, friends and scholars - one aimed at re-examining and preserving his legacy. Leading the way are Malcolm X's daughters, who plan to convert the Audubon Ballroom in upper Manhattan - the scene of his assassination on Feb. 21, 1965 - into a history center that would catalogue his life and work, and seek to convince people he was a champion of human rights. ’It's our responsibility to make sure that we do preserve and document our history to empower future generations," said Ilyasah Shabazz, the third of six daughters born to Malcolm X and wife Betty Shabazz. Her father's life has always defied easy definition. Malcolm Little was the son of a preacher who was killed after receiving threats from the Ku Klux Klan. In 1946, he was arrested for robbery and spent six years in prison, emerging as a fiery Nation of Islam minister with a new name and a message that blacks should cast off white oppression ’by any means necessary." He propelled the Nation of Islam from a 500-member sect in 1952 into a political and religious organization with 30,000 members by 1963. His messages of black empowerment and self-sufficiency also made him an icon to blacks and others around the world, and he met with African heads of state at a time when many African nations were ending colonialism and crafting new governments. After his split with the Nation of Islam in 1964, and an Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca where he worshipped alongside Muslims of all colors, he began renouncing racial separatism. He returned to the United States with a new outlook on integration and plans to re-craft his message to appeal to all Americans. His new direction prompted anger among black Muslims and eventually led to his murder during a speech at the Audubon Ballroom. On Monday, the theater will be the site of a commemorative event on the anniversary of Malcolm X's death. The official opening of The Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Education Center at the Audubon is slated for May 19, on what would have been his 80th birthday. The center will house a multimedia environment containing documents about Malcolm X's life, including memoirs, notes, speeches and other personal items rescued by his family and now held by the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. ’There has been a lot of paraphrasing, now there will be a lot of clarity," said Malaak Shabazz, whose mother was pregnant with her and her twin sister Malikah, when Malcolm X was slain. ’This collection really is going to enlighten a lot of people." In his autobiography, Malcolm X said the media, the government and even other black leaders characterized him as a demagogue. But his family said the presentations will dispel that portrayal. ’At the time ... there weren't that many people of color at the forefront, speaking not just for black and white issues but human rights issues," said Malaak, noting her father was an activist for global human rights. ’But before he was assassinated he was going to speak at the United Nations to speak on the human rights issues that faced indigenous people and people of color." The collection will also reveal a different side of Malcolm X, his family said. ’Looking at these letters, the vulnerabilities, the determination, the commitment and the humanity was really touching," said Ilyasah. ’You get to see that he was a young man, he was a father, a husband, he was someone's child." The 40-year-anniversary coincides with other projects aimed at setting the record straight on Malcolm X. Manning Marable, a professor of history and political science at Columbia University, is working on a biography he says will dispel errors in other literature. ’Many of the books that document Malcolm have major inaccuracies," said Marable. ’Many are poorly edited and don't encompass the entirety of his speeches." Next year, Percy Sutton, Malcolm X's personal lawyer who later served as Manhattan borough president, is launching his own organization - the Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Living History Foundation. Its purpose, Sutton said, will be ’for people to learn about Minister Malcolm and Dr. Shabazz and what their contributions were." The Shabazz family welcomes renewed interest in Malcolm X. ’They say that our father changed, that there was this transformation," said Ilyasah. ’I don't think it was a transformation - he evolved." Malcolm X's legacy obscure in city where he grew up LANSING, Mich. (AP) - A mural in a high school, a charter school bearing his Muslim name and a state historical marker are the only tangible reminders that civil rights leader Malcolm X grew up in Lansing and nearby Mason. The civil rights leader, who was assassinated 40 years ago Monday in New York, was born Malcolm Little in Omaha, Neb. His family moved to Lansing when he was 2. His father, a minister, was killed after receiving threats from the Ku Klux Klan. Malcolm X was 12 when he was sent to live in Mason, 10 miles south of Lansing. He attended Mason High School until 1941, when he left Michigan. Years later, as the charismatic leader of the Nation of Islam, he preached a message of black pride and autonomy perceived as antithetical to the Rev. Martin Luther King's philosophy of nonviolence. He later scorned Lansing in ’The Autobiography of Malcolm X," in which he wrote: ’I don't know a town with a higher percentage of complacent and misguided so-called `middle class' Negroes - the typical status-symbol-oriented, integration type of Negroes." If Malcolm X did not embrace Lansing, the feeling apparently was mutual. ’He's generally thought of as negative," Melvin Peters, a professor of African-American Studies at Eastern Michigan University, told the Lansing State Journal for a Monday story. ’People were uneasy about what he had to say." Other cities have given Malcolm X greater recognition than Lansing. A community college in Chicago, a cultural center in Washington and a park in Philadelphia all bear his name. ’I think it demonstrates how closed-minded our city can be," said Eugene Cain, administrator of El-Hajj Malik El Shabazz Academy, a public charter school in Lansing whose name came from Malcolm X's Muslim name. ’Our city honors (basketball great) Magic Johnson, as well they should. But Magic Johnson is an athlete, an entertainer. ’Malcolm X didn't seek to entertain. He sought to open your mind. And when you have closed minds that don't open themselves to the world, you can see why he's not honored in his town." A state historical marker was erected in 1975 at the site of Malcolm X's former home in Lansing - at the corner of Vincent Court and what is now Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. The most recent effort to honor Malcolm X was begun by Mason High School graduate Raquel Lis, who didn't learn until her freshman year at Western Michigan University that he attended her alma mater. She wrote her former principal to ask why she hadn't been taught that in high school. ’It was such a big deal in our history that it wasn't just black history, it's American history, and our school should've taught it better," said Lis, 21. In 2003, Mason High dedicated a larger-than-life portrait of Malcolm X that was prompted by Lis' letter, principal Lance Delbridge said. ’It just kind of put a thought in my mind," he said. ’Why haven't we shared this information with our students? Regardless if people believed in what he stood for or not, he's a history figure." Cain said he regretted that more people don't know the full story of Malcolm X's life - particularly his 1964 split from the Nation of Islam and his renunciation of racial separatism after an Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca where he worshipped alongside Muslims of all colors. ’Some still have a vision of him using strong, direct language," Cain said. ’I think that's what they have seen over the years in terms of films and news footage. But when he went to Mecca, he made a complete change. He embraced everybody." Malcolm X's new direction angered some Black Muslims, and led to his murder.

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