These brave and proud black people dropped their ‘slave names’ while they could

Malcolm X – El-Hajj Malik el Shabazz

Born Malcolm Little, the African-American civil rights activist had his name changed from Malcolm X to El-Hajj Malik el Shabazz in 1964 following his conversion to Sunni Islam. Before then, Malcolm X was known as Malcolm Little. After his conversion to the Nation of Islam, he changed Little to X as it was the tradition among the members of the Nation of Islam to change their last names because they believed their surnames were bestowed unto them during slavery. To Malcolm and other African-American revolutionaries, dropping their slave names better aligned them to their movement.

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