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Page marked “MX EXTRA – 13” 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, powerful and respected and admired Negro leaders of types who have traditionally spoken for and represented the Negro masses have bitterly attacked your leader Elijah Muhammad. This is a matter of record. What is your comment?
[Malcolm X] Sir, let's take these so-called leaders by the 'types' that you say. Start with politicians. They never attack Mr. Muhammad. They realize he has the sympathy of the black masses. They know they would alienate the masses whose votes they need if they attacked the Honorable Elijah Muhammad.
But civic leaders might attack him. Because usually they are appointed to their positions by the white man. Civic leaders are free to attack. The white man pays them to attack us. Those who attack the Honorable Elijah Muhammad the most make the most.
The black religious leaders, they attack the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, too. The preachers do so out of self-defense, because they know he's waking Negroes up. No one would believe what the Negro preacher preaches but someone who is asleep mentally, or in the darkness of ignorance about the true situation of the black man here today in this wilderness of North America.
If you take note, sir, many so-called Negro leaders who used to attack the Honorable Elijah Muhammad don't do so any more. He never speaks against them in the personal sense except as a reaction if they speak against him. Islam is a religion that teaches us never to attack, never to be the aggressor — but you can ‘waste’…” Malcolm X adds the word “might” in his own hand. In very 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.
