The Autobiography of Malcolm X

Black nationalism is a broad cultural movement that prizes Blackness as a racial and national identity. From there, the tenets of Black nationalist movements can vary greatly, from Marcus Garvey’s Pan-African movement, which sought to unite all indigenous and diaspora groups of African descent, to the Nation of Islam, which wedded Black nationalism to Islam, to the Black Panther Party, which focused on self-defense and economic welfare at the community level.

A “conk” is a method of straightening one’s hair by applying burning lye to the scalp. To Malcolm, conking one’s hair is a symbolic representation of the extent to which young Black men and women internalize the precepts of White supremacy as they endeavor to look “more White.”

The Fruit of Islam is the paramilitary and disciplinary wing of the Nation of Islam. It enforces the organization’s strict code of conduct. Although it disbanded when Elijah Muhammad’s son Warith Dean Mohammed took over the Nation of Islam after his father’s death, it was reformed as the Nation of Islam Security Agency when Louis Farrakhan took control of the organization.

The Nation of Islam is a political and religious movement that combines Black nationalism to a non-traditional interpretation of Islam. Its key principles include Black superiority, a characterization of White people as “devils,” advocacy for racial separatism, and a strictly enforced code of conduct prohibiting tobacco, alcohol, pork, and premarital sex. Its current leader is Louis Farrakhan, who appears in the book as Louis X. The Southern Poverty Law Center labels the Nation of Islam as a “hate group.”