What happened when Malcolm X visited Smethwick in 1965?

Born Malcolm Little in May 1925, the fourth of eight children, Malcolm X rejected his last name as being one of slavery. 

He would become known as an  African American revolutionary, Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a prominent figure during the civil rights movement until his assassination in 1965.

But how did he come to visit Smethwick on February 12 1965?

He had journeyed up from London following an address to the Council of African Organisations. He had already been refused entry to France.

Smethwick at that time was a byword for racism. The year before, a Conservative had won the election to be its MP on the back of what was one of the most appallingly racist slogans ever used in Britain in the latter half of the 20th century.

Peter Griffiths' supporters went around saying 'if you want a n***** for a neighbour, vote Labour'.

Marshall Street epitomised what risked becoming a battleground between the indigenous population and new arrivals from the West Indies, India and Pakistan.

Malcolm X himself said: "I have come, because I am disturbed by reports that coloured people in Smethwick are being treated badly. I have heard that they are being treated as the Jews were under Hitler."

Faced with mounting tension over immigration, the town's council was lobbied by local residents to buy up any properties that came onto the market and let them only to white families.

The group of residents, led by Alice Groves, got their way. But the plan was eventually vetoed by the Ministry of Housing.

Even in the 1960s, the policy for Marshall Street appalled people. Malcolm X believed it was only the beginning of something else that, left unchecked, would see Britain start to repeat the horrors that befell Jews in the Holocaust.

"I would not wait for the fascist element in Smethwick to erect gas ovens," he said.

Malcolm X was accompanied by a television camera crew. He posed by a For Sale sign on one of the houses.

The Express & Star reported the issue that very day with a photograph on the front page.

The E&S revealed one of his replies was about why he had come to Smethwick: "I was in Birmingham, Alabama, the other day. This will give me a chance to see if Birmingham, England, is any different."

Asked if he would be staying long, he reportedly 'shrugged his shoulders, smiled and said: "I shall probably be back in New York tomorrow."

Malcolm X then went to one of the pubs in Smethwick that did not operate a 'colour bar'.

 The pub he went to was said to have been full of Indians, all of whom wanted to shake his hand and who were happy he was there.

He had told the media in Marshall Street that he would be returning to the USA after he had denounced the policy of the council buying up homes in the road for white families.

On the evening of February 21 1965, Malcolm X was preparing to deliver a speech at the Audubon Ballroom in Manhattan. In front of an audience of 400 people just outside the Harlem district, three men rushed at the stage and shot him 15 times at point blank range.

The Malcolm X visit has become the stuff of legend and has been revisited in documentaries and academic work.

Stephen Page, from Darlaston, made a film about the visit. It featured interviews with politicians, young people and members of the community, discussing why Malcolm X came to Smethwick and how his influence is still evident in the town.

In 2012 a blue plaque was put on the side of a house in Marshall Street.

It was first suggested by the Nubian Jak Community Trust, which organises Britain's only black and minority ethnic national plaque scheme.

Spokesman Jak Beula said: "Malcolm X's visit brought the spotlight to Smethwick. It's very sad he did not live to see the benefit of his visit.

"Today there are people born in Smethwick to parents and grandparents who were born elsewhere.

"People are people. They should not be judged by their race or culture. It was something that needed to be said at the time."