“Malcolm X: For Dudley Randall”

The assassination of Malcolm X on February 21, 1965, sent shock waves around the world. One of the most influential figures of the civil rights movement, he was known for his intellect, charisma, and steadfast message of Black liberation and self-determination. His death sparked an outpouring of tributes, including this poem by Gwendolyn Brooks. First published in her 1968 collection of poems titled In the Mecca, it was also included in the 1969 anthology For Malcolm: Poems on the Life and Death of Malcolm X, published by Broadside Press, the leading publisher of Black Arts Movement poetry. This anthology was edited by Margaret Taylor Burroughs (1915–2010), artist, poet, and cofounder of the DuSable Museum for African American History in Chicago, and Dudley Randall (1914–2000), the first poet laureate of Detroit and founder of Broadside Press.