Tamara Payne on "The Dead are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X"

The New England Historic Genealogical Society together with the Boston Public Library and the Museum of African American History present another virtual event in the American Stories, Inspiration Today author series.

Learn about the epic biography produced from 30 years of research by the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Les Payne.

A new comprehensive and historic biography of Malcolm X, sets the Civil Rights activist against the larger backdrop of American history. Drawn from hundreds of hours of the interviews with all living siblings of the Malcolm Little family, classmates, street friends, cellmates, Nation of Islam figures, FBI moles and cops, and political leaders around the world, The Dead Are Arising traces Malcolm’s life from his Nebraska birth in 1925 to his Harlem assassination in 1965. It provides searing vignettes culled from Malcolm’s Depression-era youth, describing the influence of his Garveyite parents: his father, Earl, a circuit-riding preacher; and his mother, Louise, who instilled black pride in her children.

Register below for a conversation with Tamara Payne, the author’s daughter – who, following her father’s death, heroically completed the biography. She’ll share more about this penetrating work, which has been short-listed for the 2020 National Book Award, featured on numerous “best of” lists, and heralded by O, the Oprah Magazine.

Moderating this talk is L’Merchie Frazier, Director Of Education And Interpretation, Museum Of African American History.

Les Payne was a Pulitzer Prize–winning investigative journalist and a former editor at Newsday. A founder of the National Association of Black Journalists, he also wrote an award-winning syndicated column. Tamara Payne served as Les Payne’s principal researcher.