In "Learning to Read," an excerpt found in The Autobiography of Malcolm X, author Malcolm X attacks his illiteracy while imprisoned for battling the white man. Malcolm in his conversations with other prisoners realized he wasn’t the most articulate hustler any more as he used to be in the street. Bimbi a fellow prisoner in Charlestown Prison would take over conversations because of his vast vocabulary and knowledge from reading. Malcolm was not only impressed but aspired to be as intelligent. Malcolm explains “Bimbi made me feel envy of his stock of knowledge.” When he started his sentence the highest education he had was at an eighth grade level he received as a child. So Malcolm begins reading to acquire the same eloquent speech, but he comes across a problem. Malcolm couldn’t understand but every few words in such sophisticated books as Bimbi read. Malcolm became frustrated because he could only read the words he knew but in the end had no understanding of what he just read. Malcolm felt as though he was reading another language, such as Chinese.…
Malcolm X, Detroit Red, Satan, and El Hajji Malik El-Shabazz. Although, Malcolm was the main character throughout the autobiography. These were the various names used by the prominent African-American civil rights activist, Malcolm X, during the various stages throughout his life. Malcolm Little, officially known as Malcolm X, was the son Louise Helen Little and Earl Little and was born on May 19, 1925. He was the fourth out of seven children and also had the brightest skin complexion out of all the children so as a child that led him to believe that he was treated better by his father, and evaded many of the beatings suffered by his siblings daily. Despite his bright skin complexion, Malcolm still encountered…
Malcolm X spent time in the Charlestown prison during the Civil Rights movement. While confined, a fellow prison mate named Bimbi displayed a certain presence that Malcolm tried to imitate. Bimbi showed dominance when talking to others that Malcolm often grudged. As a result, Malcolm obtained a dictionary so that he can learn a few words.…
3.) “Philbert was placed with another family in Lansing, a Mrs. Hackett, while Reginald and Wesley went to live with a family called Williams, who were friends of my mother’s. And Yvonne and Robert went to live with a West Indian Family named McGuire.”…
Serving his ten year sentence in a state prison Malcolm X encounters a religious teacher named Baines (Albert Hall) who provided knowledge on Islamic beliefs. He too was a manipulator. He taught Malcolm X not to have self-hatred in exchange for hate people of Caucasian descent. For instance, in one scene Baines interrupts Malcolm X in the shower as he is using his lye straightening products. Baines offers Malcolm X a drink, which is similar to a drug to get him high. Baines does this because he known this is the only way Malcolm will speak with him. He actually even states it to Malcolm in the scene. This was a manipulation tactic similar to the one used by Archie in the bar scene. Baines becomes the connection between Malcolm X and Elijah…
Unfortunately, I am finding it surprisingly difficult to respond to Malcolm X’s “Learning to Read” excerpt. This, however, is not because I am an inarticulate writer, nor is it due to a lack of provocation from the piece. In truth, I believe that I am experiencing complications with my response because I find myself torn between two separate topics brought up by Malcolm X. On one hand, he discusses the massive importance of literacy and his own journey to self-obtain said literacy; however, on the other hand, it is mentioned that he advocated for implementation of black separation, and his harsh criticism of the white race is rather prominent. Malcolm X’s dedication to becoming an educated man despite enduring a multitude of oppressing struggles…
Today we have lost a legacy. Malcolm X was one of the greatest influential African Americans the world has ever known. On February 21, 1965, Malcolm X was assassinated after delivering a speech to the Organisation (the spelling used by the group) of African-American Unity at Manhattan’s Audubon Ballroom in New York City at the age of 39 at 3:10 p.m. While in the midst of giving his speech a disturbance occurred. Malcolm X tried to have the men take their seats and that is when the shots were fired. Malcom X was shot 15 times at point blank range. The shots were located on Malcolm X’s chest and face. He was declared dead at the Vanderbilt Clinic of Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center within 15 minutes of the attack. Three men were involved in the assassination, Talmadge Hayer (a.k.a. Thomas Hagan), Norman Butler and Thomas Johnson. Hagan, one of the gunmen, was wounded at the Audubon Ballroom where Malcolm X was assassinated earlier in the day. Hagan was beaten by the crowd before police arrived. All three men were convicted in March 1966 and sentenced to life in prison. Police believed the murder detail consisted of at least five men,…
Malcom X was a prominent African American figure and civil rights activist who fought for racial equality throughout the 1950s and ‘60s. Malcom X was born on May 19, 1925, in Omaha, Nebraska. Being the fourth of eight born to Earl and Louise Little, Malcom X was exposed to the ugliness of injustice at a very young age due to his father being an active member in a local chapter of the Universal Negro Improvement Association. As a result of his involvement the family was regularly harassed by white supremacist groups including the Ku Klux Klan and the Black Legion. To escape this terrorism the family moved to East Lansing Michigan but was only greeted with a greater amount of racism. Soon after moving there a racist mob burned down their house…
El-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz, Malcom X was born as Malcom little, he was a human rights activist and African American Muslim minister. To admirers he was an advocate for the rights of blacks, a courageous man who stopped white America in the harshest forms for their crimes against black Americans; detractors would accuse him of preaching violence and racism. He is one of the most influential people and in…
The author in the Autobiography of Malcolm X starts by telling us how his family would receive threats because his father would give preachings of Marcus Garvey. He would use worlds such as “I” or “me” to make it first person point of view. His mother was pregnant during many unpleasant moments in their life in chapter one. Malcolm also introduces his family in chapter one.…
In Learning to Read, Malcolm X, one of the most articulate and powerful leaders of black America during the 1960s, describes his struggle of self-education while being incarcerated. Malcolm X composed his journey of self-in order to convey the message that the reader should strive to look for more than what is taught to them by the public school system, to, in a way, look outside the box.…
lollipop from a black child, at which point the black child stops crying and goes out to fight the white boy), and they will then proceed to keep rising up against those white people until they have absolutely nothing, and have learned a lesson to never mess with any black people ever again (in the article, the black child beats the white child to “within an inch of his ass-cracker life”). This exaggerates Malcolm X’s real words, which were more to the effect of “By any means necessary”, in order to achieve humour. However, the article does not only make fun of Malcolm X. The final paragraph is supposed to be a quote of what the FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover at the time of the event said about the speech: “…it would appear that, after four centuries of abuse, broken promises and subjugation, American negroes are not only dissatisfied; they’re starting to get really angry.” This statement accuses white Americans of being ignorant towards the struggle for racial equality between them and African-Americans, as well as to why they are rising up.…
In today’s society, what can we do about the beliefs Malcolm X had towards knowledge in reading. One of the main questions will be the way this knowledge in books will change our attitudes in the culture will live on. At the end of the day do books change the overall spectrum of knowledge for anyone trying to become educated by themselves with no source of education background. The main point we have to make in the lives of any individual with a sense of trying to become educated they must have read a book of some source, in which has helped them realize changing their way of thinking into making important decisions. The main function we can do as an individual to prevent ignorance and spread vital information to those who are less educated a group which can help themselves grow intellectually in a…
After reading Malcolm x’s “Learning to Read” essay, I remember when I overcame my challenge through hard work and sticking to my Goal. It was when I first came to America I was in 6th grade. I didn’t really know English very well at that time, so it was hard for me to read and comprehend certain things taught…
Malcom X a leader notable for his work through the Nation of Islam during the Civil Rights Movement was a firm Believer in self-defense or defense which is defined by Webster’s dictionary as “the act of defending someone or something from attack” and this way of thinking, which is only human nature has labeled him with the stereotype of being violent and menacing. Malcom X not only stood for the rights of blacks but the rights of all during a speech he gave in New York he was quoted as saying “We are not fighting for integration, nor are we fighting for separation. We are fighting for recognition as human beings. We are fighting for . . . human rights." (Speech in New York, 1964) And this part of his philosophy and him are not talked about, what is widely discussed and debated is his moto “by any means necessary” meaning that he was will do what it takes to get where he wanted African Americans to be to be in society, he also spoke on revolution principles saying "Revolution is bloody, revolution is hostile, revolution knows no compromise, revolution overturns and destroys everything that gets in its way." (Malcolm X: quote on revolution) this statement has been true throughout history, for there to be a revolution there must be sacrifice and the ones that sacrificed themselves where Blacks standing up for their rights and trying to prove that they’re not what society pictures them to be “As Malcolm X toured the nation in the early 1960s promoting the Nation of Islam, the civil rights movement, one of his favorite topics, reached full force. Malcolm X regularly attacked one of the fundamental goals of the civil rights struggle: integration. Instead he endorsed separatism, advocating that each African American "should be focusing his every effort toward building his own businesses, and decent homes for himself . . . patronize their own kind, hire their own kind,…