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Malcolm x background and upbringing essay
Malcolm x biography contributions
Biography paper on malcolm x
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Malcom X's A Homemade Education Malcom X's "A Homemade Education" tells a story of how he gained knowledge by himself and how it guided his thoughts and ideas. Reading also molded his political views. Although Malcom X is a very outspoken person about racism in America, and throughout the world, I find that he has a right to be angry, but goes a little overboard on blaming whites. The story begins when Malcom is in jail and is given a book that he cannot understand because he can't read. This angered him a little and sparked a fire inside of him to learn how to read and write. Soon thereafter he went to the library in the jail and checked out a dictionary. He began to copy the whole dictionary learning word after word that he wrote. Upon completion of the dictionary, he started to read anything he could get his hands on. No matter what time it was, Malcom was reading. Despite being in jail, he felt as free as he ever could be. Reading and the ability to learn is what made him feel this way. After becoming a more educated man, he began to study the teachings of Muhamma...
While reading the essays of both Malcom X and Baca, I was in awe, inspired, and very reminiscent of my own struggles with both reading and writing. Malcom X, in his essay Homemade Education chronicled his journey from incarceration to finding religion, which inspired his need to share his new passion with others in writing. His inability to articulate fully what he had a fire to share drove what he called his “…prison studies.” Baca in his Essay Coming into Language detailed his journey in and out of jail after a chaotic childhood, and his first encounter with a book filled with photo’s of men who shared his heritage, who achieved great things; allowing for a pride in his identity as a Chicano, planting a seed for his journey to literacy.
He wanted to be able to properly write his thoughts and opinions out to be understood. He wanted to leave an impression on people to give them a thought of him exceeding his education far beyond the eighth grade. That impression was credited to his “prison studies” (Malcolm X 1). He had a voice that needed to be heard all over to bring a change to society. He self educated himself day and night with the dictionary, teachings ,and books. Malcolm X considered that “three or four hours of sleep a night” was enough (Malcolm X 3). Malcolm X became interested in the “glorious history of the black man” (Malcolm X 3). “Book after book” showed him the “white man had brought upon the world’s black, brown,red,and yellow peoples every variety of the suffering of exploitation” (Malcolm X 4). Like Douglass, Malcolm found the “Faustian machinations” of the “white man” against the “non-white victims” (Malcolm X). Douglass states, “I feared they might be treacherous.” Unlike Douglass being social and receiving help from others around , Malcolm was to himself and seeked information on his own through books. Malcolm X had more pride in his education and wasn 't afraid to share his knowledge, “Mr. Muhammed, to whom I was writing daily, had no idea of what a new world had opened up to me through my efforts to document his teachings in books” (Malcolm X 6). Malcolm X had some basic education knowledge
His quest for an education had begun, but it would be a long one. He decries how it all really began while he was being held at the Charlestown Prison. Bimbi, a fellow prisoner, was very intelligent and Malcolm envied his gift. Bimbi encouraged him to read and Malcolm would try but would end up quitting because he would skip the words he didn't know and keep reading. The problem with this was that he could never fully understand what he was reading and would put the book down. So he decided that he needed to learn how to read and write properly.
Malcolm X is an important figure in human history because he was a human rights activist and fought for equality among people. He was a proficient public speaker who spoke for minorities, mostly African Americans. By reading Malcolm X’s story, I visualize on how a man suffered from the effects of prejudice and his whole disposition was formed from it. I see how a very angry man stayed angry at the "white devils" f...
it is clear to see how Malcolm X developed his own personality. Malcolm had death with racism
The autobiography of Malcolm X is most widely accredited for its inspirational incentives and exceptionally intense life experiences; the novel itself is a show-stopper. Malcolm X structures his craft through his untold stories and background through the behavior of style and substance. Malcolm creates more than a scene and feel of the novel, but allows the audience to accommodate a tight grasp on his emotions and disposition the life of a young African-American male during a racist time in history.
This book was about Booker T Washington who was a slave on a plantation in Virginia until he was nine years old. His autobiography offers readers a look into his life as a young child. Simple pleasures, such as eating with a fork, sleeping in a bed, and wearing comfortable clothing, were unavailable to Washington and his family. His brief glimpses into a schoolhouse were all it took to make him long for a chance to study and learn. Readers will enjoy the straightforward and strong voice Washington uses to tell his story. The book document his childhood as a slave and his efforts to get an education, and he directly credits his education with his later success as a man of action in his community and the nation. Washington details his transition from student to teacher, and outlines his own development as an educator and founder of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. He tells the story of Tuskegee's growth, from classes held in a shantytown to a campus with many new buildings. In the final chapters of, it Washington describes his career as a public speaker and civil rights activist. Washington includes the address he gave at the Atlanta Cotton States and International Exposition in 1895, which made him a national figure. He concludes his autobiography with an account of several recognitions he has received for his work, including an honorary degree from Harvard, and two significant visits to Tuskegee, one by President McKinley and another by General Samuel C. Armstrong. During his lifetime, Booker T. Washington was a national leader for the betterment of African Americans in the post-Reconstruction South. He advocated for economic and industrial improvement of Blacks while accommodating Whites on voting rights and social equality.
The autobiography of Malcolm X, written by Alex Haley contains the story of one of the most influential and memorable activists in our history, the courageous life of Malcolm X is only but a small price he had to pay to express himself and encourage people to take the right path. The autobiography is told with three series of main key events that develop his character drastically throughout the novel. Malcolm Xs character being foretold and expressed is constantly being contributed with the reader allowing the engagement of his story to effect the audience in such a way that they can feel every inch of the strong emotion being expressed. The three main key events that are included in the novel include the crucial reasoning to why Malcolm expressed
The autobiography of Malcolm X is a book that will enlighten the reader into some of the hardships and discrimination the Afro-American has had to endure in America. Many people consider Malcolm X to be a radical leader, encouraging violence as a tool to fight discrimination. What this book does, for me and for many others, is open the world that Malcolm was faced and clarifies many of the controversial actions of Malcolm, such as preaching hate towards whites. The autobiography of Malcolm X is a book that helps the reader to understand some of the discrimination that Afro-Americans are faced with, all-the-while, explaining and giving reasoning to the deliberations that Malcolm X dealt and the impact that he has left on millions of people
From reading the book, I have developed my own stance that the book education system is similar to today’s education system. I can relate with the text because I have noticed most of my history fails to mention successes of the Negroes. In fact, I was astonished that Dr. George Washington Carver had invented peanut butter. I can relate to chapter four’s solution because in my school system, Teach For America teachers who were from different areas and ethnic backgrounds were ill equipped to teach African American students while an older teacher would be able to raise test scores and teach students
The Autobiography of Malcolm X is a book that illustrate the philosophical concepts of Malcolm that promotes the uprise of anybody that is black. An inside look of the the Autobiography, Describes the path Malcolm X had to endure to create a plan to stop oppression of Black people in America and also other races non-white. He understood that power relies in numbers, so for him, it is not logical to limit his battle for justice to black individuals while there are millions of people that stand to gain from struggling in the battle of racial oppression. He also understood to end racial oppression in the world he must elevate the minds of his race first.
In Learning to Read, by Malcolm X, he talks about his studies while in prison. Having only up to an eighth grade education, Malcolm X struggles with reading and writing. The main reason he decided to learn how to read was because of the letters he received while in prison, primarily from Elijah Muhammad. (X 354). He wasn’t able to write responses to them like he wanted to without using slang. Along with not being able to write letters, Malcolm X couldn’t read books without skipping over most of the words, thus motivating him to study an entire dictionary. With the use of said dictionary, he also improved his penmanship by writing down every word, definition, and punctuation he saw. (X 355). Once he memorized the whole dictionary, he was then able to read books. There wasn’t a moment where Malcolm wasn’t reading even at night when the lights were out, he still managed to use the little bit of light shining into his cell to read.
Having the knowledge to read and write may take someone into a completely different universe, it allows to see reality or escape from reality. It gives a better understanding of what goes on in the world, that being good or bad depending on how he wants to see it. Malcolm X wrote a short story " A Homemade Education," about how, his experience in prison allowed him to gain knowledge and to grow as an individual. Learning to read and write showed him, how to be mentally alive in a way that changed his life forever. He took it as an ability to grow, to make a change for himself and possibly make a difference in the world. Malcolm X explained how it 's never too late to get an education, there is always time for one to change in life. It is
Malcolm x also against segregated school System. He believed “A segregated school system produces children who, when they graduate, graduate with crippled minds”. Even though the school is segregated but it’s the white men who are controlling the schools and white men don’t want better future for the blacks “They 'll always give you the lowest or the worst that there is to offer”. He also says in order to grow stronger you have to take control of everything, just like “the white man has control of his, you need to control
Malcolm X’s “Learning to Read,” is a powerful piece about his time in prison when he taught himself how to read. Through his reading, he discovered the awful things that happened in history and became a civil rights activist. Malcolm X changed his feeling and position throughout his piece, “Learning to Read.” His emotions are clear in his writing, but the change in his writing is clear to be caused by a change in his own thoughts because of the things he learned. The essay shows his lack of reading skills when he was young, but also how interested he became in it, and how much he uses it. He says that reading is important to readers' lives just as it was to his, helping one to form their own thoughts and views. Without the ability to read and understand the world, it becomes difficult to build your own ethical views.