2160
MALCOLM X.

Autograph Letter Signed ("Malcolm"), 3 pages recto and verso, quarto, Norfolk, MA, [1946?], to his brother Philbert, with original transmittal envelope, pages toned, creased, envelope chipped and soiled.

This letter was written just before Malcolm's conversion to Islam. It is clear that the intensive course of study he undertook in prison is challenging him to question authority, and yet he is not ready to join his siblings in their commitment to the Nation of Islam. In part: " So you don't apply yourself? Well let me tell you something. What one wants to do one can do if one really wants to. If a person says, 'I'm going to visit Tom this noon,' and before the day is over something (unforcibly) changes his mind about going and he doesn't go, it is because he didn't want to at the begining (sic); he only thought he did. One doesn't change one's mind about anything one really wants to do ... Phil, I love all my brothers and sisters. In fact, they are the only ones in the world I love or have. However, never say 'we are happy to own you as a brother' to me. That sounds like tolerance, which is: allowing something that cannot be helped or wholly improved. 'To error, is divine, to forgive, human.' That makes sense to me both ways. Under no circumstances don't ever preach to me. I mean the way you closed your letter. That sounds phony. All people who talk like that sound phony to me because I know that is all it is: just talk."

Lot no. 2160
Sale no. 7308z

Estimate 2000 / 3000

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