Malcolm X's Daughter Pens Novel About Father
By John Ostapkovich
PHILADELPHIA (CBS)--Malcolm X remains both a famous and controversial figure, 49 years after he was assassinated yet a new book presents what may be a fresh take on the activist: his childhood from the perspective of his daughter.
Ilyasah Shabazz was very young when her father was killed and had to adjust over the decades to rumors rather than facts about her own paternal grandparents.
"I've heard so many different things about his mother, about his father, about his childhood, or sometimes they leave the childhood out altogether, and in order to come up with a Malcolm X you had to have had some sort of foundation and that foundation came from his parents."
The book Malcolm Little, with rich illustrations by A.G. Ford, tells a story anyone can enjoy, tinged though it is with tragedy within, the death of his father and commitment of his mother to a mental institution, and the seeds of confrontation that would shape his later life.
One drawing is of Malcolm and his mother reading a book, a homey scene Shabazz hopes will be repeated with this book.