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Michaux's National Memorial African Bookstore, Harlem, NY, was the epicenter of black literary life and bookselling, 1933-c.1975. Michaux migrated from Virginia to escape farm work and his brother's evangelical church, opting instead-despite the lack of formal education-to become a trafficker in ideas, through bookselling. A self-styled Garveyite, Michaux advised Malcolm X, though he never joined the Nation of Islam or advocated revolution. The bookshop-with a huge inventory of books about black experience and spearheaded by the charismatic bookseller (known as ''The Professor'')-attracted a loyal clientele, championed famous writers and artists, and hosted international leaders (especially Africans). A rallying point for political speeches, often delivered in front of the store, in its period, there was no other black bookstore in America with Michaux's influence.