<I>Malcolm X Speaks for Us</I>
date: label: Date
content: 1969
name: label: Created by
content: Elizabeth Catlett, Mexican and American, 1915 - 2012
label: Subject of
content: Malcolm X, American, 1925 - 1965
notes: label: Caption
content: “The most disrespected person in America is the Black woman. The most unprotected person in America is the Black woman. The most neglected person in America is the Black woman.”
label: Caption
content: —Malcolm X, 1962
label: Caption
content: Malcolm X’s oft-quoted statement underscores his profound concern for the marginalization of Black women. Created four years after his assassination, Catlett’s homage to Malcolm X employs the iconic photograph of the armed activist vigilantly watching over his family—a symbol of protection and resistance. Pictured in black near the upper right corner, the repeated image of a woman above him is drawn from Catlett’s I Am the Black Woman series (1946–47), a body of work that celebrates the resilience, strength, and heroism of African American women.
label: Description
content: A color lithograph print titled “Malcolm X Speaks for Us” by Elizabeth Catlett. Across the top, Catlett repeats the image of a woman's face from her work "I am the black woman." In the upper right quadrant is a black, three-quarter view of Malcom X, looking to the left. In the upper left quadrant is a repeated image of a child's face in a row of three followed by a row of two, varying in colors of brown and orange. This is the same image repeated in Catlett’s “Flowers for George Jackson.” In the bottom left corner is an image of another child's face, repeated three times in an overlapping, horizontal row of green, orange, and blue. The print is titled and signed by the artist in pencil in the lower right corner [Malcolm X Speaks for Us E. Catlett 1969].
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: Activism
label: Topic
content: Art
label: Topic
content: Black power
label: Topic
content: Gender
label: Topic
content: Women
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Classification
content: Visual Arts
label: Exhibition
content: Reckoning: Protest. Defiance. Resilience.
label: On View
content: NMAAHC (1400 Constitution Ave NW), National Mall Location, Culture/Fourth Floor, 4 052
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of the Estate of Carroll Parrott Blue
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2023.39.6
objectType: label: Type
content: lithographs
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: © Estate of Elizabeth Catlett
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: ink on paper
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (unframed): 35 1/2 × 27 1/2 in. (90.2 × 69.9 cm)