How Malcolm X's letters were saved

[emad]

By Tony Phillips
BBC, New York


So there I was sitting watching a video in the basement of Harlem's Schomburg Center for Black Research. Resting a moment, I leaned back and peered around the room, my eyes resting on two enormous wooden boxes.

Dubbed America's "angriest man", his letters show a different side
Bold black letters on the side of the boxes clearly spelt out: "Malcolm X". Ideas for programmes rarely present themselves so well packaged.

Three years ago, one of Malcolm X's family left home in up-state New York for a new life in Florida.

She had unwittingly packed up her father's possessions - his letters, speeches, diaries - along with her own. She deposited much of her cargo in a storage facility.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4237171.stm