Malcolm X Centennial Conference

Malcolm X and the Radical Black Tradition of Peace and Human Rights

In this talk, I will analyze Malcolm X ( El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz) as part of the long tradition of Radical Black Peace Activism, which is a fundamental but often-forgotten feature of the modern Black Liberation Movement. This mode of peace activism was internationalist in scope and made the link between the cessation of global conflict, disarmament, non-proliferation, racial equality, the end of imperialism and colonialism, and the eradication of capitalist exploitation. Focusing on his speech at the Second Organization of Afro-American Unity Rally on July 5, 1964, among other speeches and writings, I will examine how Malcom X continued the tradition of freedom fighters like W.E.B. Du Bois, Paul Robeson, and Claudia Jones in asserting the realization of Black peoples’ human rights as an essential aspect of the national and international struggle for self-determination, global cooperation, and economic…