The Mason Area Historical Society has a new exhibit on Malcolm X’s little-known time in the city.
The exhibit at the society’s museum on East Oak Street includes photographs and other artifacts.
Malcolm X’s family moved to Lansing in the late 1920s.
Society Secretary Doug Klein says when Malcolm was 14, he got into some trouble and was sent to a county detention home.
“They sent him down to the county home here in Mason, and so he was the only member of the family who lived down here," he said.
The teenage Malcolm spent about a year and a half in Mason, where Klein said he did well in school and got good grades.
“As a matter of fact, he was elected ninth grade class president,” Klein said.
While in school in Mason, Malcolm became friends with Rollin Dart, who would later become president of Mason’s Dart Bank.
“[Dart] was being bullied,” Klein said.” He was a very short little guy at the time, and Malcolm taught him a few moves because he was a boxer.”
Even with his good grades, Malcolm faced some challenges in school in Mason. That includes a time when he told a teacher he hoped to become a lawyer.
”The teacher said that might not be a very realistic career goal, and that he might think of one of the skilled trades,” Klein said. “Malcolm did not take that well.”
The exhibit features photos and other artifacts from Malcolm X’s time in Mason
The Mason Area Historical Museum is located at 200 East Oak Street. It’s open Saturdays from 1-3 p.m.
Produced with assistance from the Public Media Journalists Association Editor Corps funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.