At a time when matters of race and history frequently appear in the headlines, award-winning author and activist Dr. Ibram X. Kendi will discuss his latest book, “Malcolm Lives!: The Official Biography of Malcolm X for Young Readers,” May 10 at Greene Street Friends School in Germantown.
Kendi, a MacArthur Fellow and winner of a National Book Award, will talk about his latest work with scholar and activist Marc Lamont Hill just days before the 100th anniversary of Malcolm X’s birth. Hill is the owner of Uncle Bobbie’s Coffee & Books in Germantown which is producing the event.
Thoughtful and candid
The book, written in collaboration with the Malcolm X estate, is a thoughtful and candid 400-page biography that has appeal beyond its intended audience for youth ages 10 to 14. Chronicling the life of Malcolm X, the book begins with a pivotal moment. Louise Little, pregnant with Malcolm, is confronted by the Ku Klux Klan who came to her Omaha home in search of Little’s husband and Malcolm’s father Earl Little.
A Baptist minister and follower of Marcus Garvey, Earl Little was, according to the KKK, “spreading trouble among good Negroes.” To escape the threats, the Little family eventually moved to Wisconsin and Michigan.
The biography goes on to discuss milestones in Malcolm X’s life from his elevation in 1953, to assistant minister of the Nation of Islam’s Temple No. 1 in Detroit, to his assassination in Harlem in 1965.
The book utilizes a poetic style as it recounts a history that includes childhood letters and photos of Malcolm X throughout his life. An excerpt captures the book’s spirit: “This book tells the story of a single life navigating racism on a course to be antiracist — to revolutionize society, to be free. Malcolm teaches us all along the way of his life. We learn from our lives. We learn from others’ lives. Life stories are great teachers.”
Esteemed company
The book is the latest for Kendi, who won the National Book Award for nonfiction in 2016 for “Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America.” Three years later, he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, followed by a MacArthur Fellowship in 2021.
With “Malcolm Lives!: The Official Biography of Malcolm X for Young Readers,” Kendi joins authors including Ilyasah Shabazz, who is Malcolm X’s daughter, and renowned writer Walter Dean Myers in creating books about Malcolm X for a younger audience.
The event featuring Kendi is the latest in an ongoing book author series produced by Uncle Bobbie’s. On May 10, writer and filmmaker Tourmaline is scheduled to discuss LGBT+ trailblazer Marsha P. Johnson, and championship basketball coach Dawn Staley will talk about her new book “Uncommon Favor” on May 23.
The event is at 3 p.m. (Doors open at 2 p.m.). Tickets are $6.99 to $23.99, with the latter including a signed copy of the book. Greene Street Friends School is at 20 W. Armat Street. For more information, visit unclebobbies.com/events.
