Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Malcolm X and the civil rights movement
Malcolm X and the civil rights movement
Racism and its causes
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
3. Background:
Before the Rush
Malcolm X was born on May 19th, 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska under the name Malcolm Little. Malcolm had seven siblings. When Malcolm was six his father died. After his father’s death, his mother dealt with depression. In 1937, she was sent to a mental institute where she remained for 26 years until death. X attended school at Mason High. In 1939, his teacher questioned him about what he wanted to be when he grew up, he said he wanted to become a lawyer. His teacher told him, "You got to be realistic … you need to think of something you can do … why don't you consider carpentry?" Malcolm dropped out the following year. In 1940, Malcolm moved to Boston and turned to selling drugs and stealing until 1946 when he was charged with larceny and sentenced 10 years. X was visited by his brothers who had joined the Nation of Islam, a group of black Muslims who accepted and embraced black nationalism. He converted to the NOI upon his release from prison. After release,
…show more content…
Different from MLK Jr.’s idea of equality stating a society where everyone was equal. X took a trip to Africa where he saw American Civil Rights Movement within a global struggle for everybody. Upon his return to the U.S. with the mindset of less mad and more open minded for a peaceful resolution to American Racism and could have totally changed the course of the Civil Rights Movement. A year after his death a group known as the Black Panther Party was founded in 1966 by Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton and was based on Malcolm X and his ideas for black nationalism and necessity of violence and armed self-defense in order to obtain freedom from white
Early after his childhood, Malcolm moved to Harlem, New York, where he decided from then on that he wanted to pursue the life of a hustler. During that time, the lifestyle of the rich and famous was glamorized and for Malcolm, that was the life for him. He soon adopted the name "Detroit Red," in the fact that he lived close to Detroit and he had unmistakable red hair. Malcolm soon immersed himself in the streets of Harlem, becoming more and more acknowledged around town for robbery, pimping and drug dealing. Eventually he gained the mentality that in order to survive in his world, he had to look out for himself, and only himself. His life of crime eventually caught up with him, and in 1946 he was arrested and sentenced to seven years in prison. It seemed that in prison, his life made a sudden change, he realized that in order to truly free himself, he could not rely on his street smarts, and hustling ways. It was then that he immersed himself in the teachings of Elijah Muhammad.
“I’m for the truth, no matter who tells it. I’m for justice, no matter who it is for or against. I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole” (X). This quote by Malcolm X represented his attitude towards equality and self-empowerment. The true Malcolm X was a passionate human rights activist as well as an extremely outspoken man during the fifties and sixties. X encouraged millions of African Americans to fight for what they believed in and to take pride in their ethnicity. X persuaded a multitude of African Americans that they are supreme and should not be degraded for their skin color. He learned at a very early age if he wanted something in life, he had to make some noise
Malcolm X was born in May 19, 1925, birth place was University Hospital in Omaha, Nebraska. Malcolm birth name was Malcolm little, birth parents were Earl little and Louise (norton) little. Malcolm was a Civil rights activist. Malcolm was intelligent and articulate, Malcolm was then appointed as a minister and a national spokesman for the nation Islam. Malcom used newspaper columns as well as radio and television to communicate the NOI’s message across the United States. The charisma he had was well shown and attracted an astounding number of new members. Malcolm was given lots of cre...
In 1941, he went to live with his half sister, Ella Collins, in Boston, Massachusetts. While in Boston he worked a variety of railroad jobs but he also became increasingly involved in selling drugs and running numbers. Malcolm X was arrested in 1946 for larceny as well as breaking and entering; he was sent to prison in February 1946. While incarcerated, Malcolm X became a follower of Elijah Muhammad, leader of the Temple of Islam. After X’s parole in 1952, he became Minister Malcolm X, using X in place of the African name that was taken from his slave ancestors.
Malcolm dropped out of school after 8th grade when a teacher told him to try and be a carpenter instead of a lawyer he then turned to crime and became known as “Detroit Red”. He was later arrested and sentenced to 10 years in prison, but was let out on parole after serving seven. After he was released he went to the Nation of Islam to follow behind Elijah Muhammad in hope to learn more about his beliefs and to become a part of the Nation of Islam.
Malcolm X is born Malcolm Little in Omaha, Nebraska. His life is full of discrimination and racial violence. When Malcolm as a child he moved to Michigan with his family where they continue to experience persecution and violence. White people murder Malcolm’s father and forced his mother into a mental hospital. Malcolm moves to Boston, to live with his half-sister, Ella. In Boston Malcolm quickly becomes involved in urban nightlife. Malcolm was into gambling, drinking, doing drugs, and dating an older white woman, Sophia. He then moves to New York, where he begins working as a hustler in Harlem. Malcolm’s various jobs there include running numbers, selling drugs, and steering white people to black brothels. When life becomes too dangerous is Harlem, he returns to Boston, where he becomes a house burglar and is eventually arrested. In prison, Malcolm transforms himself, converting to the branch of Islam promoted by the Nation of Islam. Inspired by faith, Malcolm stops using drugs, he reads voraciously, prays, and studies English and Latin. The prison releases Malcolm on parole. Malcolm rises quickly from the rank of temple assistant in Detroit to the Nation’s first national minister. Malcolm X becomes known throughout the United States, even outside of Muslim circles, as a fiery advocate for black unity and militancy. The Nation of Islam’s leaders resent and fear Malcolm despite his allegiance to their cause, and they suspend him from the organization. The Nation of Islam’s frustration with Malcolm intensifies, and Malcolm begins receiving death threats. After a divisive argument with Elijah Muhammad the leader of Nation of Islam, Malcolm leaves organisation.
Malcolm was born on May 19, 1925, in Omaha, Nebraska to Louise and Earl Little. His Father, Earl, was a Baptist minister and an active member of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (founded by Marcus Garvey). Due to his involvement in civil rights, Malcolm and his family were harassed and experienced racism from an early age, and Malcolm’s encounter before he was even born. In his own words, Malcolm said: “ When my mother was pregnant with me, she told me later, ‘ a party of hooded Ku Klux Klan riders galloped to our home, brandishing their guns and rifles, they shouted for my father to come out’.”
Malcolm X was born on 1925 in Ohama, Nebraska. He was born in a big family. His father, Earl little was a Christian. Malcolm X grew up as the son of the blacks who face discrimination and pressure from the whites. Malcolm X left school early and find work in New York. He worked as a waiter in Harlem. His life was tough. He even sells drugs to and become addicted to it. He later becomes robbers. He was arrested and jailed in 1946.
Malcolm Little aka Malcolm X was born in Omaha Nebraska on May 19, 1925 to his parents Reverend Earl little and Louise Little. He had a total of 8 brothers and sisters from his parents because his dad had three kids with another woman before he met Louise. At an early age he lost
In 1946, while in prison for burglary, he was converted to the Black Muslim faith ( Nation of Islam); this sect professed the superiority of black people and the inherent evil of whites. Released from prison in 1952, Malcolm went to Nation of Islam headquarters in Chicago, met the sect's leader, Elijah Muhammad, and embraced its rigorous asceticism. He changed his last name to "X," a custom among Nation of Islam followers who considered their family names to have originated with white slaveholders.
Born on May 19, 1925, in Omaha, Nebraska, Malcolm X was a prominent black nationalist leader who served as a spokesman for the Nation of Islam during the 1950s and '60s. After quitting school at the age of 15, Malcolm moved to Boston to live with his half-sister Ella. Ella landed Malcolm a job shining shoes at the Roseland Ballroom. However, he became familiar with the city 's criminal underground selling drugs. He got another job as
The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense was founded in October 1966, in Oakland, California by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale. Armed with sincerity, the words of revolutionaries such as Mao Tse-Tung and Malcolm X, law books, and rifles, the Black Panther Party fed the hungry, protected the weak from racist police, and presented a Ten Point Platform and Program of Black political and social activism. Its "survival programs"-such as food giveaways, free health clinics and free breakfast programs for children-were popular fixtures in Black neighborhoods in the early 1970s, but for the white power structure and the vast majority of the white public, the Panthers represented only anti-government militancy; a view which engendered the wrath of the police and FBI and led to the murder of several Party members by law enforcement.
The Black Panther Party was started in Oakland, California in 1966, when “Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton took up arms and declared themselves apart of a global revolution against American imperialism” (Bloom). They wanted to empower the black people to stand up for themselves and defend themselves against the police and their unjust ways. The police were the oppressor’s that kept blacks down and kept blacks from gaining any self-rights. In the book “The Forbidden History of the Black Panther Party”, Bloom quoted from Huey P. Newton stating that “Because Black people desire their own destiny; they are constantly inflicted with brutality from the occupying army, em...
Malcolm X was born on May 19, 1925 as Malcolm Little. When Malcolm was 28 years old,he joined the NOI (Nation of Islam). He became a minister and a national spokesman for the NOI and he was a devoted follower of the NOI leader Elijah Muhammad, who taught that white society actively worked to keep African-Americans from empowering themselves and achieving political, economic and social success. Malcolm X changed his name from Little to X to signify his lost tribal names. His charisma and
Malcolm X, born in 1925 as Malcolm Little in Omaha, Nebraska lived with the knowledge that his family house was burned down and that his father was killed by the Ku Klux Klan because he refused to vacate an area that was “supposed” to be for Whites only. His father was an independent man who wanted to fend for his family by himself and not have to rely on anyone