Hakim Jamal

Hakim Abdullah Jamal (born Allen Donaldson; March 28, 1931 – May 1, 1973) was an American activist and writer. He was an associate of Michael X and wrote From the Dead Level, a memoir of his life and memories of Malcolm X. During his life, Jamal was romantically involved with several high-profile women, notably Jean Seberg, Diana Athill, and Gale Benson.

Early life Donaldson was born in Roxbury, Boston, in 1931. His father was an alcoholic, and his mother abandoned him when he was 6. Donaldson started regularly drinking alcohol when he was aged 10 and became a heroin user at 14. In his early 20s he spent four years in prison.

Donaldson's violent temper led to his committal to a mental asylum, after two attempted murders. He later underwent a conversion to the teachings of the Nation of Islam and renamed himself Hakim Jamal. Jamal and Karenga published a magazine Message to the Grassroot in 1966, in which Karenga was listed as chairman and Jamal as founder of the new group.

Jamal moved to London during the late 1960s, where he met Gale Benson, daughter of the British MP Leonard Plugge. The writer V. S. Naipaul described Benson as Jamal's "white-woman slave." Jamal and Benson traveled in America seeking funds for a project to create a Montessori school for black children. Following an unsuccessful attempt to establish a commune in Guyana with the young German radical Herbert Girardet, the couple later joined West Indian Black Power leader Michael X at his commune in Trinidad, where Jamal wrote articles in support of Michael's activities.

Gale Benson murder Benson traveled once again to America to raise funds for the school but was unsuccessful. Shortly after her return to Trinidad in 1972, she was murdered by Michael X and his associates. Jamal was not a suspect, but it was alleged that Michael X had ordered her death because she was causing "mental strain" to Jamal.

Jamal eventually returned to his wife and moved back to Boston, where he revived his role as director of the Malcolm X Foundation.

Death On May 1, 1973, Jamal was killed when four men burst into his apartment in Boston and shot him repeatedly. Police attributed the crime to a factional dispute, linked to Jamal's attacks on Elijah Muhammad. Witnesses blamed a group known as De Mau Mau for the murder. Antar Jamal, Jamal's son, argued that De Mau Mau wasn't involved, and claimed that the arrested members were instead victims. Jamal's wife, Dorothy Donaldson Jamal, and his former wife Dessaline El Shabbaz also proclaimed that the De Mau Mau members were innocent. Five members of the group were convicted of involvement in the murder.

In popular culture Jamal is a character in the 2008 film The Bank Job, in which he is played by Colin Salmon.

In the Jean Seberg biopic Seberg from 2019, he is played by Anthony Mackie.