[May 19th marks the
100th birthday of Malcolm Little, better known as Malcolm X. So this
week I’ll AmericanStudy a handful of cultural representations of Malcolm,
leading up to a special weekend post on what we can learn from Malcolm here in
2025!]
I’m going
to keep this post relatively short, as I haven’t yet had a chance to watch
Regina King’s 2020
film adaptation of Kemp
Powers’s 2013 stage play One
Night in Miami. I hope to do so soon, as it looks like a fascinating
way to reimagine all four of its central historical figures as well as contexts
related to race in America, the 1960s, celebrity and cultural impact, and more.
But what I especially want to highlight here is something that I discussed a
bit in yesterday’s post on Selma but that it seems like this film
develops even further: the reminder that any historical figure, including if
not especially one as individually iconic as Malcolm X, existed in social
communities. More exactly, One Night in Miami seeks to examine the
friendships between its four focal figures, and thus when it comes to Malcolm
to consider how such relationships might have shaped as well as been shaped by
his personal, political, religious, activist, etc. interests and actions. It
can be very hard with such icons to remember and engage with those human sides
of their lives and identities—but I believe cultural works are uniquely
positioned to help us do so, and I look forward to checking out this unique and
compelling such cultural work very soon.
Special
post this weekend,
Ben
PS. What
do you think? Representations or other sides of Malcolm X you’d highlight?
