Dartmouth Events

Open to Dartmouth faculty, students, staff
Papers Sessions Open to the Public

Schedule and other details at https://sites.dartmouth.edu/malcolmxcentennial/

May 2025 is the 100th anniversary of Malcolm X’s birth. His legacy abounds in the civil rights movement, the history of American Islam, Islamic theology and philosophy, the Black radical tradition, and the current moment. His presence is etched into Dartmouth’s memory and campus, from to his visit to campus in January 1965 to the Temple murals dedicated to Betty Shabazz at the Shabbaz Center for Intellectual Inquiry. Malcolm’s teachings and tribulations have long been the basis of course material, research, student discussions and activism at Dartmouth.

In order to contemplate, reflect, and relate to this legacy, we are pleased to celebrate Malcolm X’s centennial birthday with this symposium of academic papers and reflections. We will also have a chance to reflect on the Temple Murals and archives on Malcolm’s visit and the civil rights era from Rauner Special Collections Library.

9:30am - 12:00pm Welcome and Paper Session I (Open to the Public) is on History, Race, Gender, and Language

1:45pm - 3:45pm Paper Session II (Open to the Public) is on Malcolm's Theology and Ethics

4:00pm - 5:30pm Session III (Closed to the public; Open only to current students, faculty, and staff) is on Reflections on Legacy and "Our Continued Struggle"

Symposium Speakers:

Rasul Miller - Assistant Professor of History at UC Irvine will present on Malcolm X’s impact on the cultural world of Black Muslims in New York City from 1920-1960
 
Wendell Marsh - Assistant Professor of Africana Studies at Rutgers University 
“The Philological Imagination of Malcolm X”

Iman AbdoulKarim – Ph.D. Candidate in Religious Studies at Yale University
"Talking to Self: And Other Black Muslim Means of Escape"

Martin Nguyen - Professor of Islamic Studies/Religious Studies at Fairfield University
“A Theology of Malcolm X” 
 
Donna Auston – Senior Program Officer, Wenner-Gren Foundation
“Malcolm X, Spiritual Protest, and the Making of a Black Muslim Liberation Theology”
 
Maryam Kashani - Associate Professor of Asian American Studies at University of Illinois Urbana Champaign
“Theories and Theologies of El Hajj Malik El Shabazz”

Session III featured guest:

Ahmed Osman ‘65

Ahmed Osman is a graduate of Dartmouth College, Class of 1965, and was among the original people who facilitated Malcolm X’s visit to campus in January 1965. He first met Malcolm in 1963 in Harlem and corresponded with him for two years, establishing a friendship that culminated in his helping to facilitate Malcolm’s pilgrimage to Mecca and delivering a eulogy at his funeral. Throughout his career, Mr. Osman held roles that allowed him to support development initiatives across Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, often collaborating with international development institutions.  He will be reflecting on how he has been carrying forward the transformative experience of knowing Malcolm.

Generously supported by the Religion Department, Leslie Center for the Humanities, African and African American Studies, History Department, Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, The Ethics Institute, Office of the Dean of Faculty, OPAL, William Jewett Tucker Center, Al-Nur Association, Jewish Studies Program