A Pulitzer Prize and National Book Awards winner by journalist Les Payne and Tamara Payne with W. W. Norton & Company
Epic biography The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X by Les Payne and Tamara Payne is not just a life story but a lesson in history.
The Liveright/ W. W. Norton & Company publication was released last year and draws on hundreds of hours of interviews to present an unprecedented portrait of one of the twentieth century’s most politically relevant figures.
Renowned Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Les Payne started the book in 1990 and was assisted by his daughter and principal researcher Tamara Payne.
However, after her father’s death in 2018, Tamara went on to finish his life’s work.
Notably the book has picked up a slew of awards including being named Winner National Book Awards 2020 for Nonfiction and most recently Winner 2021 Pulitzer Prize Biography.
So keep reading to find out more about the biography, its points of interest and lessons we can learn as life-story creators …
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What’s The Dead Are Arising all about?
The 640-page The Dead Are Arising opens before Malcolm Little’s birth when his pregnant mother Louise is being intimidated by the Ku Klux Klan in her own home in Omaha.
It then follows the family’s migration north to various cities where they encounter violent racism and eventual poverty during the Great Depression.
When Malcolm is a young child his Garveyite preacher father Earl is killed in a street-car accident.
And by the time he becomes a teen he is skipping school and selling drugs on the street.
Soon Malcolm moves to Harlem, New York, and starts associating with pimps, ‘running numbers’ with The Mob and leading a burglary team in Boston.
Ending up in jail is the wake-up call Malcolm needs and where he explores and converts to Islam.
After leaving prison he becomes a minister of the Nation of Islam who amasses followers, establishes new temples and becomes a household name across the country.
However, Malcolm is targeted after he exits the Nation of Islam to pursue a more conservative form of Islam and champion civil and human rights on the world stage.
Indeed he and his family survive many murder attempts but tragically he is shot dead in 1965.
“I have always kept an open mind, which is necessary to the flexibility that must go hand in hand with every form of intelligent search for truth.”
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Interesting takeaways from The Dead are Arising
There are many points of interest worth highlighting in The Dead Are Arising.
Firstly is the 1961 secret meeting Malcolm has with Ku Klux Klan wizards in Georgia as a national representative of the Nation of Islam.
During the hours-long talk, the two parties found common ground opposing the integration of blacks and whites and agreed to pursue an all-black territory or tract of land.
Also, the KKK shocked Malcolm by asking for information to kill Martin Luther King Jr.
A second point of interest in the book was how entrenched the FBI and police were within the Nation of Islam.
Indeed moles reported relentlessly about Malcolm X for years and one even gave him CPR after he was shot.
A final fascinating point explained in the book was how the Nation of Islam attracted mostly black worshippers.
In short, this was because the religion helped foster black pride and empowerment.
“Malcolm had often proudly boasted that a sure sign of NOI conversion was a black man’s ability to look a white man dead in the eyes without flinching. He had tested the faith of acolytes in Harlem by challenging them to attempt it on the job. Many were surprised and ashamed by their reflexive diverting of their eyes in the presence of white supervisors.”
Lessons for writers
Certainly there is much we can learn from the award-winning The Dead Are Arising.
Most notable is Les Payne’s decades-long search to interview anyone he could find who had known Malcolm X.
This included all living siblings of the Malcolm Little family, classmates, street friends, cellmates, Nation of Islam figures, FBI moles and cops, plus political leaders around the world.
Also of note is the way Payne offers up reasoned commentary and reflective opinion throughout the book.
Indeed these are clear but subtle and ultimately I believe helpful to the reader.
Finally it is wonderful that Payne joined forces with his daughter to write this book.
No doubt this helped create a far more detailed life-story account and importantly ensured it could be finished following his sudden death from a heart attack.
“(Les Payne) was renowned for his investigative persistence and his skill in obtaining the truth from reluctant sources. As he often told his three children — Jamal, Haile, and myself — he could not abide the phrase ‘We may never know’.”
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Final say: The Dead Are Arising
The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X by Les Payne and Tamara Payne is a shining account of a revolutionary powerhouse.
But it is also a shocking look at the monstrous depths of racism.
Certainly read this biography if you are interested in understanding the rise of Islam in the United States of America.
Or you want a detailed overview of the country’s push for civil and human rights.
In short, this life story ensures Malcolm X’s message of racial equality rings loud and clear into the future.
Happy writing and reading!
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