Malcolm X monument unveiled outside Annapolis library

A two-sided monument honoring Malcolm X now stands outside the Michael E. Busch Annapolis Library. More than 100 people turned out Wednesday for the unveiling, which drew federal, state and local leaders to Anne Arundel County.

Years of work by local Black leaders

The Caucus of African American Leaders began its campaign for the memorial in May 2025. Convener Carl O. Snowden, who led the ceremony, said the project cost $350,000. The county chipped in $70,000. The caucus, the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Committee and other supporters raised the rest.

Snowden said the monument is the first in Maryland dedicated to a Muslim American. He first read The Autobiography of Malcolm X when he was 15 and told the crowd that the dedication came by providence rather than chance.

Why a library

State Sen. Shaneka Henson acknowledged that Malcolm X never had a direct link to Maryland. She said he was a storyteller whose life was saved in books and on film. That written record is how he has inspired one generation after another.

The monument walks visitors through his life with quotes and photographs, including pictures of him with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and boxing great Muhammad Ali.

A life of growth

Born Malcolm Little in Omaha in 1925, he discovered books and the Nation of Islam while in prison. He became one of its best-known ministers and helped it grow from a few hundred members to tens of thousands. After he broke with the group in 1964 he made the pilgrimage to Mecca, took the name El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz and came to believe people of every race could fight injustice together. He was assassinated in 1965 at 39.

Speakers admitted that not everyone will welcome the memorial and that some of his earlier words angered Jewish Americans. Their answer was simple: people grow and change. County Executive Steuart Pittman said his own view of Malcolm X shifted over the years and predicted the monument will open minds.