Over the past year, the Sudanese revolution has sparked a renewed interest in pan-Africanism among Sudanese youth, as Nubian culture is celebrated and the ideas of revolutionary African leaders like Amical Cabral and Thomas Sankara are re-examined.
But it seems few people are aware of how much Malcolm X was drawn to the Nubian civilisation and deeply impacted by Sudan. Much has been made of his trips to Africa, his interaction with people like Ghana’s anti-colonial leader Kwame Nkrumah and Egypt’s President Gamal Abdel Nasser, and the cultural consequences of his visits.
But the impact of Sudan on Malcolm X’s thinking – and Sudan’s subsequent influence on African American culture – remain unexplored.
In July 1959, Malcolm X took his first trip to Africa. Travelling as an ambassador for the Nation of Islam and with a passport issued in his new name, Malik el-Shabazz, the young minister visited Sudan, Nigeria, and Egypt – and a few months later Ghana, Syria and Saudi Arabia. Malcolm X’s sojourn in Sudan seems to have been formative, leaving a powerful impression on the 34-year-old. Until the end of his life he praised the Sudanese for their kindness and solidarity, and recalled the wonders of the city of Omdurman.