Malcolm X’s “Literacy Behind Bars” is the story of how Malcolm X learned through reading. He begins by telling us that it was his envy of Bimbi’s knowledge that caused him to start picking up books when in prison. This lead to him copying the entire dictionary so he could better understand what he was reading, as his vocabulary was very small. Malcolm X became an avid reader then. He would read even after “lights out” and in between the prison guards’ rounds. Reading awoke in him a curiosity that made him aware of the troubles of his race. Malcolm X’s experiences in learning are very different from most everyone’s. However, there are still ways in which I can relate. When I was younger I wanted to be like my brother. While it is natural for …show more content…
This was probably the result of the amount of time I them had free and nothing with which to fill it. I developed a love for books similar to that of Malcolm X’s, as well as very similar reading habits to his. Malcolm X says that he spent more time reading in his room than he did in the library. This was certainly the case for me. I spent very little time in the library, preferring to read in places where I felt more comfortable. My room was my favorite place to read because of its peaceful familiarity, but I also tried to read wherever I could; be it the school hallway, in the classroom, on the bus, or outside on the grass. My teachers took note of my reading obsession in middle school, and were quick to encourage it. They readily agreed to remove the typical limit of three books allowed to be checked out at a time for me when I asked. The librarian would just smile at me as I handed her the next five books I planned on reading, knowing I would be back in five days or less. This was the same for Malcolm X when he showed a particularly intense interest in books. He said that those who were known to read a lot could also check out more books than what was normally
As I grew up learning to read was something I learned in school, yet for Sherman Alexie and Malcolm X can’t say the same. These two amazing authors taught themselves, at different stages of their lives, to read. In Sherman Alexie’s essay “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me” and Malcolm X’s essay “Learning to Read” they both explain the trials and experiences they went through that encouraged them to work to achieve literacy.
If there was any one man who demonstrated the anger, the struggle, and the beliefs of African Americans in the 1960s, that man was Malcolm X. The African American cultural movement of the 1920s lost momentum in the 1930s because of worldwide economic depression. The Great Depression helped to divert attention from cultural to economic matters. Even before the stock market crash of 1929, unemployment and poverty among blacks was exceptionally high. It was under these difficult conditions that Malcolm X experienced his youth in the South. Malcolm X was a very controversial character in his time. He grew up in a very large family. His father hunted rabbits to sell to the white people for money, and his mother stayed home to take care of all the children. Several times when he was young, his family was forced to relocate due to the racist groups that would burn or run them out of their home like the Ku Klux Klan. One of these groups called the Black Legion killed his father by tying him to the railroad tracks. Malcolm’s father had life insurance but was not given to his family because they said that Earl Little had committed suicide. This was quite impossible because his head was bashed in and he tied himself to the railroad. Without his father’s income, Malcolm's family was forced to get government help and food. Applying for this type of assistance brought many white Social Workers into their home. They asked questions and interrogated the entire family. Malcolm’s mother always refused to talk or let them in.
This paper is written to give my personal reflection on a book entitled The Autobiography of Malcolm X. It is one of the assignments for EDC3360 Course, Social Work for Community Service. We were asked to read this book because the content of this book has relation with the course we are taken for the current semester.
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.
In Malcolm X’s autobiography written in 1965, X illustrates his “Learning to Read” and the pursuit of knowledge. As a Muslim African American Civil Rights leader, the author articulates his illiteracy that later transforms into the motivation of learning how to read and write. Throughout persistent discovery of knowledge, X has explored a great number of inequalities and contradictions existing in contemporary society. X uses a lucid and detailed description of his early days and numerous facts to achieve his thesis of the pursuit of knowledge. X’s irate tone aims at the discriminated African American community and “White” people who are ignorant about their own history; additionally, “Learning to Read” inspires colored people who are being
Malcolm X should be everyone’s hero, someone people like myself should look up to as a human being. Anyone who thinks otherwise is either a racist or is extremely ignorant. Malcolm X wore his heart on his sleeve and whether right or wrong he was never afraid to say what was on his mind to anyone who cared to listen. I personally believe Malcolm X’s beliefs give me strength to do what's right and carry myself with dignity. I remember, as a kid, my parents had tons of books about Black History books. The first book I read was a Malcolm X biography. I realized Malcolm X was truly a powerful, significant, and essential work for all time.
Going into prison, Malcolm X is illiterate. He is frustrated that he cannot express himself. Malcolm X decides “the best thing [he] could do [is] get hold of a dictionary - to study, to learn some words.” In the prison Malcolm X requests tablets, pencils, and a dictionary. Then he begins to copy the dictionary on to the tablets. He does this until he has completely the entire dictionary. Typical people do not learn to read and write by copying the dictionary, but by sounding out letters and copying the alphabet.
Malcolm X who was born in the 1900s received an education up until eighth grade, unlike Frederick Douglass. Malcolm X describes how his passion for reading started due to the inability to write formal letters to his mentor, Elijah Muhammad. Unlike Douglass, Malcolm X did not have any consequences or restrictions when it came to learning. The setting of “Learning How to Read and Write” refers back to when Douglass was at the age of twelve while Malcolm X was in his early twenties during “A Homemade Education.” Both Douglass and Malcolm X became lead figures of their time through the mastery of English: after escaping to the North, Douglass became an abolitionist and Malcolm X became a political activist during the Civil Rights Era after being released from prison. Douglass and Malcolm X serve as role models to both, present and future students for their determination and perseverance to learn, regardless of any consequences that may come of it. Of these two authors, their reasoning for empowerment through language varied with time, purpose, and resolve upon acquiring the knowledge of the English
His developing enthusiasm for Allah and the religion of Islam displayed the amazing turnaround in Malcolm's life. With every minute spent reading was a minute spent on creating the humbleness of a man with a series of unforgettable sins. At this point it would be hard to say the audience wasn’t entirely relieved. A man with time and desire is almost impossible to discourage. He began to speak with a greater knowledge and purpose. Soon enough, he felt the need to teach his cellmates. “My reading had my mind like steam under pressure” (page 187). You begin to notice a difference in Malcolm's character once again. He has restrained himself from being the self centered, primitive individual he once was and has toned in on the “True Knowledge”. “It was right there in prison that I made up my mind to devote the rest of my life to telling the white man about himself -- or die” ( page 188).Coincidentally he gave what he had left of his life to sharing the reality of the African American
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 movement which involved figures such as Martin Luther King Jr. This was a pivotal era in American history because for the first time that there was major push towards full rights for African Americans. When Malcolm X came on the scene he put fear into White people because they weren’t used to hearing the truth about race relations in America and many of them felt that things were just fine because they themselves were living life high on the hog while at the same time exploiting Blacks. Because this type of talk from a black person was new to them they misinterpreted his views as “hate speech” and accused him of trying to incite violence when he was simply trying wake his people up to properly deal with what was happening to them.
Prison is a place of confinement or involuntary restraint where choices are made for you. However, in the articles “Learning to Read” by Malcolm X and “Yes, One book can Change Your Life, Even in Prison”, by Dwayne Betts shows how a bad situation can turn into a better outcome. Malcolm X and Dwayne were put into situations where everything was taken away from them except their state of mind. Within this situation Malcolm and Dwayne through different approaches were determined to leave prison with more sovereignty over their education.
Malcolm’s point of view remains mostly consistent throughout his piece, but it slightly shifts at the beginning, middle, and end. First, he talks about when he was a child and he could not read. He also tells about his time in prison when he taught himself how to read. The way he talks about his journey shows his point of view. Readers are able to put Malcom X on their level and relate to him because he tells about his real journey of learning to read. This makes the reader think about him differently. Rather than being Malcolm X, he’s just your average inmate trying to find his place in the world. In the middle, his point of view is still that of an inmate, but now with more insight to help him shape his mo...
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
In the tale of Malcolm X it states, “It really began back in the Charlestown Prison, when Bimbi first made me feel envy of his stock of knowledge.” While he was in prison he began to realize that as his friend Bimbi began to talk he and take control of conversations that he wasn’t as educated as he believed himself to be. Also he’d begun to realize that being dumb and uneducated isn’t as cool as it seems when you begin to have a conversations with those who’re more educated than you are. In his tory he also states, “...nearly all of the words that might as well have been in Chinese...I saw that the best thing I could do was get hold of s dictionary-to study, to learn some words.” He felt the need to acquire the knowledge due to the fact that he wanted to understand his friend and have the knowledge to hold a conversation with Bimbi. Malcolm X wanted to expand his knowledge and his vocabulary.“Under Bembry's influence, Little developed a voracious appetite for reading.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_X) His original goal for obtaining education as for the purpose of understanding hi friend Bimbi and due to that need to acquire more knowledge it lead to him discovering more about the complexities and ‘greyness’ along with the deafness and blindness that was affecting the people of America more specifically the black community in
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.