Page 36 from the original typescript of Alex Haley’s 1963 interview of Malcolm X for Playboy magazine, one onionskin page, 8.5 x 11, signed "Malcolm X" in the bottom margin (with a marginal line indicating his approval of the contents). In full [spelling retained]: “[Malcolm X] ...out as professional soldiers in Europe. Wait a minute, sir, there's more, Egyptian civilization is a classic example of how the white man stole great African cultures and makes them appear today as white European. The ancient Sumarians were a black-skinned people, who gave us our alphabets. They occupied the Middle Eastern areas and were contemporay with the Egypitan civilization. The Bravidians were a black-skinned people who occupied the sub-continent of India and their civilization pre-dated that one that is there today, and they had a higher cultural level than that one which is there today.
The Incas, the Mayans, the Aztecs, all dark-skinned people, Indians, had a highly developed culture here in America, what is now Mexico and Northern South America. At the time when the white people up in Europe still were living in mud huts, these people had mastered agriculture, when white people in Europe were still eating weeds. Sir, you don't have to take my word. Your readers don't have to take my word. Let them read for themselves. As a matter of fact one of the best sources I know is put out by the United Nations. Read the Unesco Courier special edition of October 1959. Let them read any books about ancient Egypt.” 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.
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