A new exhibit at the New York Public Library is prompting a scholarly reexamination of the life and work of civil rights leader Malcolm X. The artifacts and writings from the life of the controversial activist provide a more complete look at the life of a highly complex thinker than has ever previously been available to the public, and “the exhibition also represents an end to a wrenching public struggle over their ownership of Malcolm X’s personal effects. After almost being auctioned in 2002, most of the items were reclaimed by the family, which deposited them with the [library] in 2003.”