Malcolm X was one of the most prominent civi right activists at the time. He preached Black Nationalism, where blacks separates themselves from the whites completely. He is often known as the intellectual, charismatic hero. Although, he was not always that faithful. He was a thug. A hustler. He committed crimes. How did a hoodlum, became a historical figure of Malcolm X? There was many events in his life that changed him, and shaped him to be that somebody. If we trace back his footsteps, his life as Malcolm Little, his life as a thug, his life as a inmate, and his life as a national minister of Nation of Islam, all contributed in creating him and his name of Malcolm X.
Throughout history, different people in society have viewed Malcolm X in different lights. To some, Malcolm X is the shining light that spoke to a population that was in need of wisdom and help. However, other people saw Malcolm X as an threat to society and the pillars that were built to keep everybody safe. In the end, a person would have to be blind if they didn’t recognize the impact of Malcolm X character in the Civil Rights Era. Whether you saw him as a positive of the negative aspect, Malcolm X was a powerful figure of the era. Therefore, we most praise the power and strength of a Malcolm X figure in society. Malcolm X displayed the moral authority so great that it continues to attract people to his ideology in recent times. Malcolm displayed a charismatic quality: he fixed his mind and sight of the racial goals to be obtained and pursued them with an unvarying, uncompromising attitude. In the light of all of these realities and difficulties of the cinema representing a mans life that has been plagued with myths and romance, Spike Lee’s Malcolm X serves as a inspirational achievement. Lee’s Malcolm X serve as a richly textured and relevant nuance of the life and legacy of Malcolm X and the times of American paradox: a racist whose fame has been shaped to display his belated universal appeal.
Malcolm Little commonly known as Malcolm X was born in Omaha Nebraska. Malcolm’s trouble has started before then even while he was in the womb of his mother. Clansman would often circle his house in search of his father who was a preacher who talked about the evils of the clansmen and wished for a day when African Americans will return to the ancestral homelands in Africa. In chapter 1 of the Malcolm X book I will describe his childhood has rough he seen his father killed been relocated to 4 or 5 different houses and at the end of it all his mother was killed. Malcolm little commonly known as Malcolm X have been through a lot in his upbringing. He was separated from his seven siblings and put into foster care Change would be one word to describe his childhood as he was in and out of schools and by the age of 13 he was in a reform school. The book takes a major shift when he heads out to Boston with his sister Ella. From here he tours the town and find other African Americans who are just like him. One in particular by the name of shorty becomes one of his closest friends. He introduces them to the locals and takes Malcolm under his wing. One thing in particular that Malcolm falls in love with is the Roseland Ballroom. With the help of shorty he gets a job as a shoe polisher. While doing this he falls in love with a new dance called the Lindy Hop. This ultimately leads to him quitting from shoe polishing in a short time because he cannot do both. However he only works there
Our opinions, beliefs and feelings are heavily influenced by the amount of education that we receive. Education is the backbone to a person’s subjectivity and authority. Malcolm X brought much attention to the importance of improving academic knowledge in his essay “Learning to Read” through his own life experiences. Malcolm X claimed that “in the street, [he] not only wasn’t articulate, [he] wasn’t even functional” and that “[he] became increasingly frustrated at not being able to express what [he] wanted to convey in his letters that [he] wrote” (189). As a result of this inability of his that he sought out so educate himself so that he would no longer struggle to be “articulate and functional” when trying to express himself. Malcolm X began self-education while in prison, where he spent “sometimes as much as fifteen hours a day” (197), devoting his time to studying. Before he acquired his academic knowledge Malcolm X self proclaimed himself to be the “most articulate hustler in the street” (189), but after becoming educated, he became known as one of the most reputable leaders throughout the Civil Rights movement. Malcolm X and Toni Bambara
Who is Malcolm X? Answers tend to vary by person but in the “Autobiography of Malcolm X”, it really delved into the pivotal details of his life and readers like myself, went on an enthralling metaphorical journey to see the intriguing development of him as a child, a young adult, a convict, a follower, and ultimately a leader. For starters, Malcolm X was not born with the infamous and famous X. His birth name was Malcolm Little and the innocent Malcolm Little was very belittled (pun intended) in majority of his social environments. At a young age, he experiences the pain of losing his father. In retrospect, his father was just a dust in the wind. Malcolm’s dad was like many other socially active black males, who became inevitable victims that usually were murdered, lynched, burned, etc by the white men in their area. Now, to lose one parent is already tough for many individuals but Malcolm was only to be hammered with more bad news. His mother was sent away by government workers to a mental institution because his house was deemed “unstable” (this kind of stuff happened daily to many black families in similar housing situations like Malcolm was in). But Malcolm directed his energy elsewhere. He ends up taking initiative in school and whilst excelling, he ended up loving many aspects of education in America (or so he thought). He climbed his way to become first in rank in his class and even became class president but his dreams was simply crushed by many individuals. One of
"When a person places the proper value on freedom, there is nothing under the sun that he will not do to acquire that freedom. “ – Malcolm X
The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told by Alex Haley is the story about a man who greatly impacted American history. Malcolm Little, or Malcolm X as he is more widely known, taught what he believed in regards to segregation, racism, and discrimination. Growing up in a large family with a father Earl Little, a Baptist minister, and his mother Louis Little who was a homemaker, Malcolm’s life at the time seemed very promising. His father’s involvement in support of the Black National gained him many death threats at the hands of white supremacists. In 1929, they lost their house to a fire, and two years later the body of Malcolm’s father was found mutilated. This lead to the emotional breakdown of Malcolm’s mother and in turn she was institutionalized. Malcolm and his siblings were separated and placed in foster homes, and from then, his life began a path of drugs, sex, and crime. It was not until he was imprisoned in 1946, that he decided to make some changes for the better. This essay will assess and discuss those changes whether negative or positive, on a micro, mezzo, and macro level. It will also cover some of the effects of racial prejudice on human behavior, and how society today keeps the ideology of Malcolm X alive.
The 1950's and 1960's were a time of racial turmoil throughout most of the United States. Segregation between blacks and whites was still in full effect, African Americans had to drink from different water fountains, eat at different restaurants, and even shop at different stores than their Anglo "neighbors". Many people and organizations fought valiantly for equality in the U.S. such as Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King jr. and the NAACP. The roles they played were critical in the civil rights movement were critical, the actions they took included peaceful demonstrations and marches, public speeches, and boycotts such as the one that took place in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955. One man stands out among all of these leaders though, Malcolm X.
The Autobiography of Malcolm X is the story of Malcolm X, an African American male growing up in the United States in the mid-1900's. At this time in America prejudice and segregation were widespread and much a part of everyday life. Malcolm takes the reader through his experiences with American society, which rejects him. This rejection, along with the inferiority cast upon all Black Americans, forces these males to search for acceptance. They are forced to search for purpose in causes greater than single individuals. As the book shows, this is evident in Malcolm throughout his life and in the life of other African American males. The Autobiography shows how during this time in American history
Lansing did not hold many opportunities of any kind for a young black man then, so without a particular plan, Malcolm X went to live with his half-sister, Ella, in Boston. Malcolm X looked, and almost immediately found trouble. He fell in with a group of gamblers and thieves, and began shining shoes at the Roseland State Ballroom. There he learned the trades that would eventually take him to jail dealing in bootleg liquor and illegal drugs. Malcolm X characterized his life then as one completely lacking in self-respect. Many journalists would emphasize Malcolm X’s “shady” past when describing the older man, his clean-cut lifestyle, and the aims of the Nation of Islam. In some cases, these references were an attempt to damage Malcolm X’s credibility, but economically disadvantaged people have found his early years to be a point of commonality, and Malcolm X himself was proud of how far he had come. He spared no detail of his youth in his autobiography, and used his Nation of Islam ideas to interpret them. Dancing, drinking, and even his hair style were represented by Malcolm X to be marks of shame and self-hatred. Relaxed hair in particular was an anathema to Malcolm X for the rest of his life; he described his first “conk” in the autobiography this way: “This was my first really big step toward self-degradation: when I endured all of that pain of the hair-straightening chemicals, literally burning my flesh to have it
Malcolm X, born Malcolm Little, had a tight connection to racism and discrimination at a very young age and grew up with it his whole life. It is because of all the hardships and struggles he went through that built the foundation on which his passion for civil rights stood upon. He had a love for knowledge and wisdom. Despite his troublesome family issues, Malcolm was a great student in school and continued to seek out facts through his entire civil rights movement. This is especially displayed when he shifted his views after researching further into what he was teaching. Malcolm X is considered a hero in American history because of his experienced past, his motivational speeches, and his love for knowledge.
“The Klansmen shouted threats and warnings at her that we better get out of town because ‘the good Christian white people’ were not going to stand for my father’s ‘spreading
One of the most influential men of his time, not only with the black community, but also with other people of every community. His beliefs for many people are hard to understand and probably thought as if his beliefs are wrong, but until someone actually reads The Autobiography of Malcolm X, then people will not really understand the complexity of the man Malcolm X. His autobiography takes you on a tour of probably lots of black men of this time and shows all the hardships and struggles that they had to go through. Showing the misleading teachings of the honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam, and how Malcolm learns the real truth of his religion.
Can you recall a memory from your early childhood? Did you think about the first time you fell off your bike, getting stung by a bee or your big brother teaching you how to get the football to spiral when you throw it? Can you imagine that your first memory that can come to mind is living every night in fear, the burning down of your home by the Ku Klux Klan and the “accidental” death of your father who’s head was detached from his own body? This is the only memory that comes to Malcolm Little from his childhood.
“Brothers! Brothers, please! This is a house of peace!” These were Malcolm X’s last words before he was assassinated. His childhood was a stressful start and his life ended in a tragedy. Malcolm Little was destined to become great, inspirational, a leader. He was a very smart kid, inspired others to be like him. Most will probably remember him as a threat, a criminal, and an outlaw; but when you observe the bright side of his life, his greatness tends to shine. Even though Malcolm X had a very difficult childhood, he deeply contributed to the Civil Rights Movement.