Clarence Lang

And of course he had his detractors because there were some people who argued, well, if you're not, if the state does not recognize your rights as a citizen, then you can build businesses, acquire property and what have you, but how do you protect and maintain it if you're not considered a legal citizen?

So there were contradictions.

But in fact, Booker T. Washington had an influence on Garvey.

In fact, when Marcus Garvey came to the United States, he had wanted to meet Booker T. Washington.

But by that time, Washington had died.

So can we say that Booker T. Washington was a Black nationalist?

Perhaps not.

But some of his ideas were very foundational to Black nationalist thought in the 20th century, certainly.

His father and his mother were both Garvey organizers, yeah.

Yeah, thank you for that question.

So, you know, first and foremost, because of Earl Little's occupation as an itinerant preacher and organizer of the UNIA, the family's life was itinerant.

And so they moved around a bit.

And I should mention that Malcolm's mother, we don't talk about this enough, Louise Little, was also involved with the UNIA, was an active member and organizer as well.

And as a result of their activities, very open political organizing, they were often targeted by local white supremacists.

So they moved around a bit.

In fact, one of Malcolm's earliest memories was of a bombing that occurred at his home where the family had to evacuate.

Or that was one episode, another episode, you know, he talks about in his autobiography, his mom being pregnant.

Knight riders show up to the home, they're looking for Earl Little, and she's able to persuade them to leave by virtue of her being visibly pregnant and the like.

So they live very much on a knife's edge.

And not only did they move around, but certainly when they ended up settling in the Lansing, Michigan area, rather than submit to segregated housing in that community,