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Page 19 from the original typescript of Alex Haley’s 1963 interview of Malcolm X for Playboy magazine, one page, 8.5 x 11, signed "Malcolm X" in the bottom margin (with a marginal line indicating his approval of the contents). In full:
"[Haley] Mr. Malcolm, our time draws short. The editors of Playboy have given you an unprecedented forum to express the full range of the views of your organisation. As you were told at the outset, your statements, whatever they were, were made with very little contradiction on our part. The purpose was to set before the public, once and for all, a complete record of your beliefs, without censoring. We feel that it is in the public interest that America knows what your organisation stands for. The editors of Playboy would like to know what you think of their having given you this forum.
[Malcolm X] I think you want to sell magazines. I've never seen a sincere white man, not when it comes to helping black people. Usually things like this are done by white people to benefit themselves. The white man's primary interest is not to elevate the thinking of black people, or to awaken black people, or white people, either his interest is to make money, exploitation. You'll sell more books, that's the primary objective of all publishers.
[Haley] Mr. Malcolm, a few issues ago Playboy printed what many readers considered to be the radical opinions about racial matters of the famed jazz trumpeter Miles Davis. What he said, alongside this interview, was bland. Even the Davis article cost us many subscription cancellations—yet we dare print yours because we believe people in America need to know what you are spreading in America.
[Malcolm X] Truth is the greatest attracting power that there is today. You probably gained lot of subscriptions. Any magazine that is bold enough to print the naked truth will increase its circulation million-fold. People like light. It attracts." In fine condition. Encapsulated and graded by PSA/DNA as "NM-MT 8."
Playboy's May 1963 interview with Malcolm X was one of the most famous of Haley’s career and gave most readers their first in-depth look at Malcolm X’s teachings and personality. Supporters and critics viewed the Muslim minister in very different terms. Admirers saw him as a courageous advocate for the rights of African-Americans and condemned crimes against black Americans; detractors accused him of preaching racism, black supremacy, and violence. Nevertheless, he has been described as one of the greatest and most influential African-American leaders in history. Within a year of granting this interview, with America still gripped by ever-growing racial tension, the once-combative black nationalist Malcolm X had repudiated almost every stance in the interview. He had broken with the Nation of Islam movement, fallen out with its leader, Elijah Muhammad, renounced black supremacy, and embraced racial equality and human rights. He was assassinated in Harlem in 1965.
The Marc and Mary Perkins Collection.
