Entry · catalog no. 9212
by any means necessary
/ /baɪ ˈɛni ˈminz ˈnɛsəˌsɛɹi/ /BY EN-ee MEENZ NESS-uh-sair-ee
phrase · Harlem, New York (1964) · 1960s
✓ Verified
1.
A declaration that a goal, especially Black liberation, will be pursued by whatever methods are required.
“We will have our rights by any means necessary.”
Origin & Attribution
The English phrase comes from Jean-Paul Sartre's 1948 play Dirty Hands (Les Mains sales), in which the French line 'en usant de tous les moyens' was rendered 'by any means necessary' in the 1963 English translation. Frantz Fanon used a similar French line in Accra in 1960. Malcolm X made it a Black American slogan at the founding rally of the Organization of Afro-American Unity in Manhattan on 28 June 1964 and again on 13 February 1965. It is often credited to Malcolm X alone; the line is older, but its place in Black American usage is his.
1948
Sartre's Dirty Hands
1964
Malcolm X uses the phrase at the OAAU founding rally
Region of origin
West
Midwest
N.East
South
Nationwide
Harlem, New York (1964) · 1960s
Spoken by
Malcolm X; activists; Black Americans generally
$BYANYMThe Record · cultural traction
▲ Steady62 yrs
ahead of the mainstream
45/100
peak cultural energy
Introduced to English by the culture — logged here before the mainstream caught on.
Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest
First used
1964
in the culture
Recorded here
2026
point of first record
Cultural energy indexed from documented usage, search interest, and citation frequency. The recorded date is the archive’s permanent point of record.
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Citations & Sources
■
Jean-Paul Sartre, Dirty Hands (1948; English translation 1963)
book
■
Malcolm X, Organization of Afro-American Unity founding rally, 28 June 1964
speech
■
+ Cite a sourceWikipedia, 'By any means necessary'; secondary
web
See also