Ms. Flaherty
CUNY Start Reading and Writing
08 March 2013
Compare and Contrast Essay
Frederick Douglass and Malcolm X both were African Americans who struggled to be successful.Frederick was born a slave for life 1817 he didn’t go to school but wanted to have knowledge. He had a lot of obstacles in his path but the fact he wanted to learn to read and write keep him going though he wanted to give up sometimes. Frederick Douglass also wanted abolish slavery.Malcolm X was born in May 19, 1925 into a family. During his early years his family moved a number of times because of racism. At age 6 his father was murder mysteriously, their home was burned and four of his uncles were murder by white people. His family struggled economically and they were living off public welfare. His mother became ill and he was sent to foster home. At age 13Malcolm X was charge with delinquency and dropped out of school at age 15. As a teenager later he began wearing flashy clothing and jumped into criminal acts, like doing drugs, gambling and burglary. Age twenty he was sentence to 10 years in prison for burglary. In there he began to transform his life. Frederick was against slavery while Malcolm was against racism. They both had a dream to fight for injustice for their people against racism and slavery.
Both Frederick and Malcolm taught themselves how to read and write. Frederick Douglass was a slave and it was illegal for slave to have knowledge. He didn’t wanted to be a slave he wanted to be something better, wanted to have knowledge as he saw it as power. He educated himself using various strategies, like learning from the boys on the street by trading bread for knowledge. He would even go to the lumber yard and copied the letter that the carpenter would write on the timber the name of the place it was intended to go. Then later he would meet the boys challenging them that he can write better and they would respond saying “I don’t believe you” this way Frederick