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Malcolm X: what Wikipedia removed

Malcolm X was a Nation of Islam minister and civil rights era human rights activist assassinated in 1965. In 2010 the opening said his detractors accused him of preaching racism, black supremacy, antisemitism, and violence. Today the opening calls him a celebrated advocate for Black empowerment and racial justice, and the word antisemitism is nowhere in the article. A reader today learns he faced accusations of preaching violence, and not that detractors specifically accused him of antisemitism.

The word “antisemitism” appeared 1 times in this article’s opening at its peak, in 2010. Today it appears nowhere in the article at all, references included. Checked against the full current article on 2026-08-01.

The tracked words, snapshot by snapshot

Section titled “The tracked words, snapshot by snapshot”
word20052010201520206 October 20232025
antisemitism010000

Counts are of the opening paragraph only, the part most readers, search engines and AI training sets ever quote.

What was taken out

Section titled “What was taken out”
  • The description of Malcolm X as, to his admirers, a courageous advocate for rights, dropped from the opening’s balanced framing.
  • The list of accusations against him, including antisemitism, dropped from today’s opening.
  • A sentence describing him as one of the greatest and most influential African Americans in history, dropped from the opening.
  • The sentence stating he was born in Omaha, Nebraska and introducing the events of his life, dropped from today’s opening.
  • The passage on his 1946 sentencing to eight to ten years in prison, reworded in today’s opening.
  • The sentence describing his becoming a member of the Nation of Islam while in prison, dropped from today’s opening.

How it opened then, and now

Section titled “How it opened then, and now”

2005 (revision 17955993):

Malcolm X Malcolm X ( May 19 , 1925 – February 21 , 1965 – also: Malcolm Little , Detroit Red , El-Hajj Malik El- Shabazz , and Omowale ) was a spokesman for the Nation of Islam , and a founder of both the Muslim Mosque, Inc. , and the Organization of Afro-American Unity . He was assassinated in February 1965 on the first day of National Brotherhood Week . During his life, Malcolm evolved from being a street-wise hoodlum to one of the most prominent black nationalist leaders born in the United States , ultimately rising to become a world renowned Pan-Africanist and human rights activist. He explained the name he chose by saying “To take one’s ‘X’ is to take on a certain mystery, a certain po…

2025 (revision 1298289776):

American civil rights activist (1925–1965) This article is about the person. For other uses, see Malcolm X (disambiguation) . “Malcolm Little” and “Malik Shabazz” redirect here. For other uses, see Malcolm Little (disambiguation) and Malik Shabazz (disambiguation) . Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little , later el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz ; May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965) was an African American revolutionary, Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a prominent figure during the civil rights movement until his assassination in 1965. A spokesman for the Nation of Islam (NOI) until 1964, after which he left the movement, he was a vocal advocate for Black empowerment and the promotion of Isla…

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