While reading the Malcolm X narrative, I found my mind wandering off to watching football. As vivid images of my favorite team winning were racing through head, I found it hard to concentrate. My television was on and of course it was tuned to the pregame show. This was probably not the best time to be reading. I was able to focus on reading, but I kept reading the same things more than once. It took me much longer than it should have to read the narrative. I eventually was able to relate to the writer. I turned off my television and it was completely silent in my house. This seemed to help me stay more focused on my reading. However, I then began to pay attention to noise outside my home. I could hear too much of another type of distraction.
The Autobiography of Malcolm X, told by Alex Haley, details the incredible journey of one of the most inspiration and life altering leaders the world has ever encountered. The book begins with the illustration of Malcolm’s early life experiences and ends with X predicting that he will die a violent death prior to seeing the publication of his autobiography.
Malcolm X, as a character in his Autobiography, believed that fate and prophecy guided his life. When he was sent to jail for ten years, he believed that his incarceration was part of his predetermination to find Allah in the Nation of Islam; it didn't ever dawn on him that he was solely responsible for his time in prison. Malcolm viewed his indefinite suspension from the Nation as a prophecy he was destined to fulfill, not as an act of jealousy and underhandedness by his fellow "Black Muslims." His own violent death was not a surprise to him, for he always had chosen to believe that he would die at the hands of another and that it would be his fate. He did not believe his
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
My Q@I was “Is Angela Davis’ Work as a Female Activist an Adaptation of Malcolm X’s “Black Nationalism” Philosophy?” and I developed my question after reading both pieces featuring Malcolm X and Angela Davis. As a minority, I related to Davis and Malcolm X. I admire their work and why not compare two activist perspectives that fought for opportunities that opened up doors to myself and millions of other minorities. In addition to the pieces by Malcolm X and Davis, the racist acts against minorities that have taken places in the United States ignited my motivation to write about something that should be prevalent today. Racism in the United States has become so overtly obvious that it has become normalized. In a time like now, as Americans,
Have you ever wonder, what were the three most important changes that Malcolm had during his life from the beginning to the end? During his life, Malcolm had many attitudes toward his identity as he changed his name from Malcolm Little to Malcolm X and finally El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz. Throughout his experiences as a black human being, he experiences a significant transformation over the course of the autobiography. Malcolm life becomes a quest to resolve the race issues that have always surrounded him from his past to his present. When he was Malcolm Little, he can no longer tolerate being treated as a pet; therefore, Malcolm leaves to the big city to explore his black identity. As Detroit Red, he becomes a hustler in Boston and Harlem, but he eventually gives himself up after recognizing the emptiness mind of this fast lifestyle. In prison, Malcolm mature himself by Elijah Muhammad philosophy and emerges as Malcolm X to get people politically active by extending the Nation of Islam across the United States. Malcolm lastly becomes known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz and he starts to focus on developing a global unity between oppressed individuals in America before he passes away from a gunshot. Therefore, the three important changes that transformed Malcolm’s life was the names that he was remembered by and it was Malcolm Little, Malcolm X, and El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz.
After reading the short passage for The Autobiography of Malcolm X, lots of the obstacles that Malcolm X went through were related to my life situations. We both use similar techniques to conquer learning difficulty. Moving to a new surrounding and having to deal with new people, had precipitated Malcolm X and myself to think about our reading, writing, and language skills. We both were jealous of another individual that could conduct any conversations or read textbooks effortlessly. Finding a way to overcome the envy feeling towards another person, it would take dedication. To be able to improve our English language skills, it would take determination.
The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley, and Coming of Age in Mississippi by Anne Moody sheds light on how principles of ambition, pride, and faith throughout their lives paved individual paths for revolutionary success. Troubling upbringings as seen in both of their lives eventually instilled a drive that ultimately revolutionized America’s perspective of racial equality. Their worldview grows to encompass humanity as one and is developed alongside their spiritual and cultural inquiry.
Malcolm X claims in his autobiography that whites were considered superior to blacks. This claim is supported through many instances whether it may be in history or during the course of his autobiography. For instance, the claim of white superiority is proven correct when history has displayed time and again that whites have placed restrictions on blacks which do not apply to themselves whatsoever. A few famous examples of these restrictions include colored only drinking fountains and the bondage that African Americans faced during the course of slavery. Additionally, Malcolm X mentions that since African Americans had it ingrained in their heads that whites were supposedly better than themselves, certain African Americans mutilated their
Confined between blank walls and chilling concrete floors, with nothing but Luke-warm, boxed mashed potatoes, and burly men to keep him company, Malcolm X created a neon image in the midst of darkness. Malcolm, lying on the gray and unsupportive cots of prison, began to understand the necessity of developing a literate persona. In doing so, he colored the walls with knowledge and a newly discovered vocabulary while continuing to be encompassed in the blankness of the walls engulfing his presence. After breaking down the barricades of illiteracy and captivity for himself, he raided the ignorance of those who were confining his African American brethren to their own state of ignorance and illiterate oblivion. Literacy
The Autobiography of Malcolm X was about one African Americans struggle during a time of extreme racism and discrimination to make a name for himself. Malcolm had many life experiences before tragically being shot and killed. He was a hustler in Harlem, a porter for a railroad, and was eventually a minister for the black Islam movement lead by Elijah Mahammad. Malcolm Little lived a very interesting life to become the man he will be remembered as.
The autobiography of Malcolm X is a book that was published in 1965. It is of result of collaboration between human rights activist Mr. Malcolm X and journalist Alex Haley. The book depicts more about Malcolm X’s life, experiences and beliefs. The book again talks about spiritual conversion narrative that outlines Malcolm X's philosophy of black pride, Black Nationalism. Malcolm was born in May 19th 1925 in Omaha to a family of Earl and Louise Little. The book also explains to us that he inheritated his activist from his father.
Malcolm X or El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz was born on May 19, 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska. He was born to Louise and Earl Little. His father Earl was a Baptist minister and “a dedicated organizer for Marcus Aurelius Garvey 's U.N.I.A. (Universal Negro Improvement Association).” His mother was a domestic worker. In 1929, Malcolm’s family moved to Lansing, Michigan. There, his house was burned down by a white supremacist group. It was then he realized the role of a black man in America and saw the difference between being white and being black. He said, “ Back when I was growing up, the "successful" Lansing Negroes were such as waiters and bootblacks. To be a janitor at some downtown store was to be highly respected. The real "elite," the "big shots," the "voices of the race," were the waiters at the Lansing Country Club and the shoeshine boys at the state capitol. The only Negroes who really had any money were the ones in the numbers racket, or who ran the gambling houses, or who in some other way lived parasitically off the poorest ones, who were the masses. No Negroes were hired then by Lansing 's big Oldsmobile plant, or the Reo plant. (Do you remember the Reo? It was manufactured in Lansing, and R. E. Olds, the man after whom it was named, also lived in Lansing. When the war came along, they hired some Negro janitors.) The bulk of the Negroes were either on Welfare, or W.P.A., or they starved.” When Malcolm was six
This story is about the life of Malcolm x written by Alex Haley, it is from his childhood in Michigan to the time he moved to Boston, New York as a teenager. It relates to how he became a criminal and also how he went to prison and how he discovered the nation of Islam while in jail and how it changed his life. It also tells you how he became a minister for the nation of Islam and things that went on when he became the minister and it ends a few months before his assassination.
The reading this week was without a doubt the most unique book I’ve ever read, so it was both difficult to read and very interesting. I had an extremely hard time keeping all the names of each of the characters straight because they were such unique names, so I kept having to go back to figure out who was who. This made the reading take me a lot longer than I thought it would. However, I did actually enjoy reading the book because it was organized as just a story. This was very refreshing to me because I feel like all I ever read are informational books for classes, so being able to sit back and read a story was very relaxing. I also really enjoyed having the past knowledge from Pal’s book because it allowed me to interpret
Growing up everyone is forced to read. First, children start by being read to by their parents and then slowly over time and learning, read for themselves. Children usually at this point either quit reading all together or continue to endure and learn into classical readings such as: Harry Potter, or The Chronicles of Narnia. Kids who go through school are forced to read to increase their comprehension skills, and the ones who read on their own outside of school as well, usually have an increased score than others. Mostly people who do not read on their own have trouble connecting with the books or reading that they try. They seem to not be able to stay focused on the book, and easily become distracted with other things. Growing up I was a kid like this. I still to this day struggle with not becoming distracted with other things while I am trying to read. I always start with good intentions and then halfway down any certain page, I find myself daydreaming about something random like what I had for dinner the night before. I always had this problem, until now. During this summer literature course I have had a new inspiration for reading. From the first short story we read, The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, to the last I was surprised how interested I was in the stories. I didn 't find myself daydreaming in the middle of these stories, and instead, I was focused and intrigued on how it would end. Although many stories spoke to me during my time in this class,