Malcolm X Monument rises in Anne Arundel County

A double-sided monument sharing quotes and photos of civil rights activist Malcolm X was unveiled Wednesday at the Michael E. Busch Annapolis Library.

More than 100 people came for the unveiling and to hear from various federal, state and local officials.

Malcolm X, who died at the age of 39 in 1965, had no direct connection to Maryland, but that was not a deterrent to honoring him, said Sen. Shaneka Henson (D-Anne Arundel).

“Why not Malcom X?” Henson said. “When you think of Malcolm X and you think of a library, Malcolm X was a storyteller. The value of his work has been captured for history … that’s how they were able to make a movie [about Malcolm X]. That’s how we were able to inspire generations because we were able to tell his story.”

The Caucus of African American Leaders began its push to install a memorial in the county in May 2025. Carl O. Snowden, convener of the caucus, said the memorial project cost $350,000, which included $70,000 from the county. The remaining amount was raised by the caucus, the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Committee, among others.

The memorial, he said, represents the first in the state dedicated to a Muslim American.

Snowden said he was 15 when he read “The Autobiography of Malcolm X: As Told to Alex Haley,” which was published several months after Malcolm X’s death in October 1965.

“This is not by accident. It’s not by coincidence. It’s not by happenstance. It’s by providence,” Snowden said after the nearly 90-minute ceremony. “And I’m so pleased on this day that we’re honoring Malcolm X.”

‘Open their minds’

Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little in May 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska. His parents were activists — his mother served as the national recording secretary for the Marcus Garvey Movement and his father a Baptist minister and chapter president of the Universal Negro Improvement Association.

His father died when he was 6 and his mother was later committed to a mental institution when he was 13. In 1946, at age 20, he was sent to prison for larceny.

In prison, he became an avid reader, learned about the Nation of Islam and adopted the surname “X.” After his release from prison in the early 1950s, he became a minister and spokesperson for the Nation of Islam and helped increase membership from 500 people in 1952 to 30,000 in 1963.

One year later, Malcolm X left the Nation of Islam and went on a pilgrimage to Mecca. He changed his name to El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz and broadened his views that all races can work together to fight injustice.

The memorial in Annapolis summarizes his life and includes photos of Malcolm X with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and former heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali, as well as of Malcolm X on a stretcher after being shot at a rally in New York City in February 1965.

Snowden and others said that they know some people may not like having a memorial outside a library to honor Malcolm X. While the human rights activist championed self-determination and cultural pride for Black people, he also angered those in the Jewish community with antisemitic statements.

But on Wednesday, those who celebrated Malcom X’s life simplified it with this phrase: People grow and change.

Steuart Pittman, the Anne Arundel County Executive, said he was raised to believe King was good, “Malcolm X, a little scary.”

Pittman added, “my thinking evolved over time, and I started to see some nuances” in reading about the life of Malcolm X, and how Jewish and Black Americans worked together during the civil rights movement.

“There are people out there from Anne Arundel County who are going to see in the news that we just put up this Malcolm X memorial [near the] library, and they’re going to be angry about it,” he said. But “they’re going to learn from it … and it’s going to open their minds.”