Don Wildman

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American History Hit with me, Don Wildman.

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I'm Don Wildman, and on American History Hit, my expert guests and I are journeying across the nation and through the years to uncover the stories that have made America.

We'll visit the battlefields and debate floors where the nation was formed, meet the characters who have altered it with their touch, and count the votes that have changed the direction of our laws and leadership.

Find American History Hit twice a week, every week, wherever you get your podcasts.

American History Hit, a podcast from History Hit.

The moment came in quiet, sitting with pen and paper, writing a letter to his brother about the strain and monotony of incarceration, of the harsh living conditions, and the toll taken on his physical health as a prisoner of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

It was 1950, and this man, known to friends and family as Malcolm, had entered a new phase of life, deeply reconsidering his purpose and place in the world, his very identity.

Like so many black men in America, his last name, Little, was not really his.

That arbitrary surname had traveled down through generations, through at least a century of American history, until it rested on him, Malcolm Little.

But now, under the spiritual guidance of the Nation of Islam, he had decided to part ways with that identity, to shed that name, and claim a new one that represented freedom, strength, autonomy.

Finishing the letter, he signed off to his brother and for the first time added the new signature that would, in coming years, become famous the world over.

Malcolm X.