In unpublished autobiography intro, Malcolm X says he offered his story ‘to benefit America’

Lawyer airs unpublished intro to Malcolm X classic

NEW YORK — A lawyer who bought the manuscript of “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” says the civil rights leader expressed hope that his tumultuous life story could help blacks and whites in a never-published introduction to the 1965 best-seller.

Attorney Gregory Reed read the introduction publicly for the first time Wednesday in New York City. In it, the civil rights leader — who was killed in 1965 — decries the state of relations between American whites and blacks and says he hopes his story will “do as much good for America and for both races as it possibly can.”

Reed bought the manuscript, introduction and three unpublished chapters in 1992 from the estate of the autobiography’s collaborator, Alex Haley.

The book’s original publisher says it’s unclear why the material was omitted.