How did The Autobiography of Malcolm X come to be written?

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Malcolm X in 1965, wearing glasses and a suit, with his hand raised to his face as he speaks. — Malcolm X Prominent figure in the Nation of Islam Malcolm X, 1965.

The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1965) was written as a collaboration between the activist Malcolm X and the journalist and author Alex Haley.12

The book came to be through a series of extensive, audiotaped interviews that Haley conducted with Malcolm X shortly before the leader's assassination in 1965. By recording these conversations, Haley was able to document Malcolm X’s life story in his own words, covering his early childhood, his time as a street hustler and drug dealer, his conversion to the Nation of Islam while incarcerated, and his subsequent career as a prominent activist and religious leader.13

Following its publication, the work gained widespread recognition as a classic of African American literature and a definitive account of the Black American experience.13