Lost Chapters Play free
Malcolm X card art from Lost Chapters (Cobalt, Character)
Card art: Malcolm X

Malcolm X: Cobalt Character

Malcolm X (1925 to 1965) was a Black nationalist leader and the best-known spokesman of the Nation of Islam in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He left the Nation in 1964, made the pilgrimage to Mecca and began moving closer to the wider civil rights movement before he was assassinated in Harlem on February 21, 1965.

Cost
6 crystals
Type
Character · Leader
Power / Health
5 / 5
Color
Cobalt (Thinkers & Dreamers)
Rarity
Rare
Set
Liberty & Lightning (Set 1)
Keywords
Swift

Swift

While you control Martin Luther King Jr. (Leader or character), gets +1/+1 and Protest.

Fiery intellectual whose evolution from street hustler to religious leader challenged America's most comfortable assumptions.

Real history

The real history

Malcolm Little was born on May 19, 1925, in Omaha, Nebraska. His parents were active in Marcus Garvey's movement for Black pride and independence. In 1931 his father was found dead by railroad tracks in Michigan; accounts differ on whether white supremacists killed him. After his mother was committed to a state hospital in 1939, Malcolm spent years in foster care and juvenile detention homes.

As a young man in Boston and New York he drifted into crime, and in 1946 he began a prison sentence for burglary. In prison he studied hard on his own and joined the Nation of Islam, led by Elijah Muhammad. Paroled in 1952, he dropped his family name, which he considered a name from slavery, and took the letter X.

By the late 1950s he was the Nation's leading minister and spokesman, preaching Black nationalism, rejecting integration and sharply criticizing the nonviolent approach of Martin Luther King Jr. In 1958 he married Betty Sanders, later known as Betty Shabazz.

In March 1964 he broke with the Nation and founded Muslim Mosque, Inc. and the Organization of Afro-American Unity. That April he made the hajj to Mecca, and he later used the religious name El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz. Afterward he softened his views and reached out to activists in the Southern movement.

On February 21, 1965, he was shot and killed while giving a speech at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem. The Autobiography of Malcolm X, written with the journalist Alex Haley, was published that October and became a bestseller.

Sources

  1. Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute, Stanford University
  2. Malcolm X (1925 to 1965), Encyclopedia of the Great Plains, University of Nebraska, Lincoln
  3. The Autobiography of Malcolm X is published, HISTORY.com

Checked against these sources on October 2, 2026. Spot a mistake? Report an error. How we check facts.

How the card plays

Malcolm X costs 6 crystals and is a 5/5 Rare Cobalt character with Swift, so he can charge the turn he arrives. While you control Martin Luther King Jr., either the Dr. King Leader or the Martin Luther King Jr. character card, he gets +1/+1 and Protest, which stops your rival from choosing him as the target of a charge.

In a Dr. King deck that bonus is always on, so he lands as a 6/6 that can attack right away. Under Neil Armstrong he needs the King character on the field to grow.

Alexander and the Virginians Alexander and the Virginians is a Counter that gives your characters +1/+1 for a turn and draws a card. Mightier than the Sword Mightier than the Sword adds +2/+1 for an even bigger first strike.

  • Playable in decks led by Martin Luther King Jr., Neil Armstrong, and by any Traveler Leader whose colors include Cobalt.
  • In the Dr. King starter deck (1 copy). Deck code: LC2-BAABAQICAQMBBAEFAQYBBwEIAQkCCgILAQwBDQIOAg8BEAIRARICEwIUAhUBFgEXARgBGQEaARsBHAEdAR4B3v4
  • In the Armstrong starter deck (1 copy). Deck code: LC2-AQABAQECAQMBBAEFAQYBBwEIAgkCCgILAQwBDQIOAQ8BEAERARICEwIUARUBFgEXARgBGQEaARsBHAIdAR4BfQK1eQ
  • Works with Martin Luther King Jr..
  • A deck holds up to 3 copies of this card.

Questions about Malcolm X

Why did Malcolm X leave the Nation of Islam?

His standing with the Nation's leaders was already slipping when, in late 1963, a remark he made about President Kennedy's assassination led to a 90-day ban on public speaking. In March 1964 he announced he was leaving to start his own religious and political groups.

Did Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. ever meet?

Only once. In March 1964, during the Senate debate over the Civil Rights Act, they crossed paths at the U.S. Capitol and shook hands. In early 1965 Malcolm also visited Selma, Alabama, and met privately with Coretta Scott King.

Related cards

Free in your browser. No download.

Play Malcolm X free