BOSTON – Malcolm X was a civil rights leader who advocated for the African-American community and worked with leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. and John Lewis. Before that, however, he lived on an unremarkable street in Boston’s Roxbury neighborhood.

“Malcolm X lived here,” says Marius of Roxbury, who walks in the shadow of the house every day. He is proud of his presence on Dale Street but disheartened by what he sees.

“It should be taken care of much better. Malcolm X was a very powerful black man,” said Marius. “We should take care of the things he left behind.”

The road to renovating the house where Malcolm X spent his childhood was not easy, but now the owners are working hard to restore the place where Malcolm X spent some of his most formative years.

“He was a teenager in Roxbury when he came here. He lived on the top floor here,” said Rodnell Collins, Malcolm X’s nephew. “It’s a three-story building, the two windows up there.”

Collins’ mother Ella also lived here. In the 1990s, the house was almost sold, partly because Mayor Tom Menino converted it into a National landmarkNow there is a new plan.

“It is the people’s house. It is everyone’s house,” Collins said.

Collins plans to convert it into a fully functional home for graduate students so they can live and learn within the same walls where Malcolm X lived.

$4.5 million project

A $4.5 million fundraising campaign is currently underway, and the family hopes to raise that amount to complete the project by the end of 2025. When the doors open, the public will be able to enter Malcolm X’s childhood home for the first time. But there’s still a long way to go.

“The inside and the outside. My wife, I and her family contributed some money to do what was necessary to get the house back in shape,” Collins said.

With the help of community donations and federal and state grants, the Collins family is repairing the roof and garage and even making the building environmentally friendly.

“Malcolm was concerned about the environment,” Collins said.

Despite the hard work, Collins, who is in charge of the project, believes it is worth the effort. “It reminds me of my uncle. He believed in the possibilities,” Collins said.