Development Of Malcolm X Essay

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Development of Malcolm X This paper will discuss the different stages of thought processes the former Nation of Islam minister, Malcolm X went through during his lifetime in terms of how he viewed white people, but more specifically “the white man” in America. The reason the focus is on White Americans is because these were the people outside of the Nation of Islam that shaped his life good or bad and put him on the path where he eventually transformed from Malcolm Little to Malcolm X who was one of the most polarizing and controversial figures during his lifetime and even nearly 50 years after his death the name Malcolm X causes certain people to shudder. Malcolm X became a well-known figure during the 50’s and 60’s during the civil rights …show more content…

As Rufus Burrow Jr. states “By the time Malcolm was 13 years old he experienced enough in his life to make him hate white people for the rest of his life” (Burrow Jr.) The then Malcolm Little just like other blacks and whites had learned what his race’s place was in society was. Black people in America during that time of Malcolm X’s youth had to learn at a very early age that they weren’t full citizens in the very country that they were born in. For blacks learning such a harsh and unfair lesson would cause them to either accept their lot in life and allow themselves to develop an inferiority complex and kowtowing to whites. This type of thought process that was forced into the psyche of black people in America gave justification to whites that blacks were indeed inferior to white people and deserved to be treated as less than human. As a result, many blacks accepted being second class citizens and as a result they too passed down the concept as Malcolm X states “the white man being superior and black people being inferior” (Malcolm X 56-57) generation after generation. However, on the other side of the coin there were blacks who rebelled against the status quo and wanted make better lives for themselves and their people. Malcolm X’s parents Earl and Louisa Little were part of the latter. As the Malcolm X autobiography states on page 1, “Earl Little was a Baptist minister and a dedicated organizer for the Marcus Garvey movement” ( Malcolm X 1). During that time and even in today’s world to a lesser extent black people who stood up for their rights and spoke the truth about the race situation in America were seen people who were causing trouble because the dominant society which

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