Malcolm X Thesis

Malcolm X throughout his whole life was one person. However, given his experiences, evolutions and phases that he went through in his 39-year life, he went by several different names. From the beginning he struggled with his racial and religious identity which led him to start going by different names. When he had a revelation he would then change his name. Malcolm X is most remembered for being a former criminal turned key figure in the civil rights movement next to the likes of Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. Unlike those two however he was most known for his advocacy for Black Nationalism and suggested that violence is the answer. His most famous phrase was how he we wanted freedom and equality “by any means necessary”, in a very

Malcolm X was known by many different names. The first Malcolm Little, his birth name, and who identified with a young man growing up in America would fuel his passion for racial politics. From the jump, Malcolm had the cards placed against him. His father Earl Little “was a Baptist minister” and “a dedicated organizer for Marcus Garvey’s U.NI.I.A.” (pg. 1). It was along with this that the Ku Klux Klan was intimidating Earl Little and his family and the subsequent “alleged” murder of Earl Little by the Black Legion, that Malcolm’s life took a turn for the worst. His mother Louise had a nervous breakdown and was institutionalized which led to Malcolm and his siblings becomes wards of the state. Given he’s grew up without the guidance or protection of parents he started getting into mischief out on the streets. You can even tell from his statement in the book that from an early part in his life he was impatient for things to happen and was more of a go-getter which would later get him into trouble. On page 15, he stated “The more I began to stay away from home and visit people and steal from the stores, the more aggressive I became in my

I never wanted to wait for anything”. He even was trying to conform, even stating how he “was trying so hard, in every way, to be white” (pg. 33). The name Detroit Red is associated with a low point in his life. Malcolm was named Detroit Red as he came out of Michigan and he was light-skinned. During the period as Detroit Red he was hustler doing things such as stealing, gambling, drug dealing. He was essentially living a dangerous life. Looking bad at this lifestyle he chose that put him in jail he said: “I really was at least slightly out of my mind. I viewed narcotics as most people regard food” (pg. 141). With the name Malcolm X, he finally takes all his experience and new learnings from the Nation of Islam and applied it to the new chapter in his life. During his time in prison, Malcolm becomes informed about a new movement titled the Nation of Islam. The Nation of Islam is one of the oldest Black nationalist movements that taught blacks about self-reliance and eventually going back to the motherland. Malcolm writes to Elijah Muhammad while in prison and starts working for him and renounces his reckless behavior. Malcolm works very hard so he can become the second man to the Nation of Islam. In the 1950s’ with the rise of the civil rights movement