Some of the items initially put up for sale include an unpublished journal of the revolutionary leaders' meetings with African and Middle Eastern political leaders in the early 1960s, and 87 typed manuscripts of prepared articles and speeches delivered at Clark College, Yale University, and Howard University. Another archive includes 800 pages of talks delivered at mosques, temples, and public rallies in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and other cities. The collection also contains negatives and photographs from public appearances.

Malcolm X's uncompromising stance against racism and imperialist exploitation earned him the enmity of the U.S. government and a wide following among the exploited and oppressed not only in the United States but around the world as well. That hatred on the part of the U.S. rulers accelerated during the last year of his life--following his 1964 break from the Nation of Islam--as he increasingly condemned the capitalist system and adopted prosocialist views. Malcolm was gunned down while giving a speech in New York in February 1965.

EBay was expecting bids reaching nearly $500,000 for the archive, which was to be put up for sale March 20 at its Butterfields auction house in San Francisco and on the Internet. The items were shown to reporters on March 7 in San Francisco for the first time before a three-day public viewing.

"These papers and images represent the most significant collection of Malcolm X material ever brought to the auction market," crowed Catherine Williamson, director of Butterfields' Books and Manuscripts Department.

In 1999 Butterfields had attempted to auction off the bullet-riddled telephone book Malcolm carried in his breast pocket when he was assassinated. The diary had been removed from the New York police archives.

The company halted the auction of Malcolm's archives after receiving a letter from Joseph Fleming, the lawyer representing some of Malcolm X's daughters. Fleming cited "possible irregularities" in the way the property arrived on the auction block. "The family's goal is to receive the property," he said. "If that involves litigation, they'll spend the time and money to do that. If that involves some compromise with all of the parties, they are prepared for that."

"We would just like to get all the papers together in one place," said Ilyasah Shabazz, one of the daughters.

An article in the New York Times headlined "Malcolm X Letters Show His Evolution" said the documents that were to be auctioned "offer fresh insights into the evolution of Malcolm X's thinking." Dozens of Malcolm's speeches have been kept in print by Pathfinder Press since his assassination in 1965, including many from the final year of his life. The first volume, Malcolm X Speaks, was published just a few months after his death. A companion volume, By Any Means Necessary, followed in 1970. Another Pathfinder title February 1965: The Final Speeches is a collection of speeches and interviews by Malcolm X from the last three weeks of his life. Pathfinder also publishes Malcolm X Talks to Young People and several other titles.

Howard Dodson of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York City's Harlem, is proposing the papers be donated to the institution. The Schomburg is a division of the New York Public Library and is considered one of the world's main repositories of African and African-American history.

Dodson, who is director of the center, said Malcolm X's family members told him that "the Schomburg is their preferred place" for the archives.
 
 
Related article:
Malcolm X's revolutionary legacy  
 
 
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