Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 4, 1993 TAG: 9307040266
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: 5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Reviewed by Leni Ashmore Sorensen
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Malcolm X lived his life as activist, icon and martyr in an urban environment that stands out in gritty detail in the photos in this wonderful collection.
Looking past Malcolm's compelling face is difficult but when one does, one can see a world long gone; black men with short clipped hair in suits with overcoats, women in hats, a formality in dress and bearing that seems appropriate to the black and white of the images. There is not one photograph in which Malcolm X is dressed in other than a suit and tie. Do you remember that world?
The world has changed since 1965, not just in terms of race relations, but in visual terms. By the end of the decade of the sixties, the Afro hair style, plus colorful and dramatic changes in dress had swept through the black community. Technology allowed color photography to become the norm in the media. There is an intense and often grim seriousness in the wealth of black and white photos that come from the early Civil Rights movement, and understandably so. The effect is arresting.
For the older person who lived through the events and times portrayed in this collection of photos, a way of urban black life is chronicled that is gone. For young people this book is a view of another world, a world where young black men in suits stubbornly refused to accept the roles a nation demanded of them. A world where violence on the mass scale seen after the death of Martin Luther King Jr. was simmering but could be seen in the media only as individual acts of assassination and brutality.
The introductory strong essay by Thulani Davis makes a rich addition to the book. Her observations on the intellectual and spiritual evolution of Malcolm's role as a powerful national figure is essential reading for the young who may have little accurate idea of his values. Malcolm is too important an American figure to continue in the public's eye some demagogic stereotype of the anti-white racist. While he minced no words, and drew upon a wealth of pithy metaphors and black folk sayings to make his points, when read carefully, his language does not incite to riot or war, rather it incites individuals to stand up and make the world of the black American better by real work. Chickens do indeed come home to roost!
My favorite photo on the book is that of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. at their only meeting. There is a sweetness in the smiles and potential the firm hand clasp that give a glimpse of what could have been.
- Leni Ashmore Sorensen will begin graduate studies this fall at the College of William and Mary.
by CNB