Malcolm Little, but best known as Malcolm X, he was a black activist and was a symbol of, and spokesman for the “angry black man” because he was a figure of racial contempt, he had regularly infamy in the press involving the flourishing integration evolution, which he opposed. Malcolm X believed that instead of integrating United States, African Americans should look for separation from White people all together, which mean he wanted society to endure separated, but he did not want white people having any control over what black people did. With this complete separation, the black and white would never have any problems with each other again. For White America, Malcolm X became a target of hatred and fear, especially for those liberal whites …show more content…
But separation is that which done voluntarily, by two equals- for the good of both!” (246) Malcolm defined segregation and separation were two different things. Segregation was created by white government to control African Americans, that could also have been called slavery. However, the definition for separation was the formation of African American, they build their own communities in order to balk at the white society. One example from Malcolm’s childhood which he experienced racism. When he was a child, he witnessed both his parents destroyed by white society, but what may have influenced him the most was he attended school in Lansing, there he experienced affliction on a daily basis by his classmates and teacher. Even as Malcolm X earned top grades and was voted for being the class president, a teacher dishearten him from being a lawyer because Malcolm X was black and taught him bigoted propaganda. This was Malcolm’s first-time interaction with integration. Malcolm left Michigan because he knew that he could not avoid the limiting racial identity that society enforced on …show more content…
The teaching of the Nation of Islam helped him grow his ideas of racism and his view of white people while he was in prison. Malcolm’s opinion about the Nation’s belief that black people were seen as good and whites were seen as bad. When Malcolm X was released, his ideas change. Men were seen as being good or bad based on their action and no longer determined by their skin color. Malcolm traveled to Mecca cause another deep change; as the Nation of Islam had taught him, he realized that white people he had detested and fought in America was not so much matter of skin color but a matter of attitude and behavior. Being white did not make a man evil; but being a white American, nevertheless, mainly did indicate particular standard of behavior and particular attitudes about race. In this manner, Malcolm X began to believe that the only way that America could avoid racial trouble was to amend its social composition. This was not to say Malcolm X could accept the principle of integration. He still believed that black people should be separated from the white community, mainly because people in same race would seek one another out. If black people were to incorporate, he knew they would not be able to conserve their legacy, which had already been deprived by whites. However, he did believe it attainable for people of different skin color to work together if
In the century where African-Americans had no rights and were highly discriminated, two men set out to make a new lifestyle for each other. Those two men where Frederick Douglass and Malcolm X. Frederick Douglass was a slave when he began to learn to read. Malcolm X was in prison when he began to learn how to read, he was in prison because he was an activist civil right. Both of this men have a great influence to the changes made for African-American rights. Both of this men have similarities and differences. Some of the similarities are why they wanted to learn, and their background. The differences are in the way that they learned to read and write and at what time they learned to read and write. Although both men have similarities they
During his stay in prison, Malcolm continually lashed out at the guards and fellow inmates. After realizing that this would never get him anywhere, he began to study the teachings of Islam. With the aid of a fellow convict he cam to the mindset that it was his new mission in life to convert fellow blacks in order to unify them as a people. He felt that there was no real way that blacks and whites could come to a mutual agreement in America, and the only solution would be a great Diaspora back to his "homeland" of Africa.
Malcolm X while in prison completed his first transformation. Like many great figures and history makers had a low point in is life. At this time Malcolm was into drugs, hustling, women and money. He became so dependant on making a lot of money he and some of his friends decided to rob the house of an old white man. They were caught for this crime and were not only charged with this crime but were also charged with having sex with white women. Malcolm and his friend "Shorty" were sentenced to six years in prison. The two white women that were Malcolm and Shorty’s accomplices were sentenced to a year in jail. During the first couple days of prison Malcolm was coming off a drug high and was having withdrawals. These withdrawals led Malcolm into solitary confinement for two months. When he was let out of his chamber he met the man that would later be responsible for Malcolm’s transformation. This man was a follower of the nation of Islam and the great Alijah Muhammad. Malcolm learned a great deal form him. This shows us that even in the worst of circumstances we can learn and become better. This transformation was a great test for Malcolm and starts to let us see what a great influence he would end up being in the lives of many Americans.
The Nation of Islam, which Malcolm X was an important member of, is not a religious organization as the name suggests but rather an organization whose goal was to make the lives of African Americans better instead of actually teaching the proper ethics of Islam. One of the main objectives of this organization was Black Nationalism, through which Black leaders can control the areas where there is a majority of African Americans. This cause was greatl...
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.
However, it was what happened in his life that made Malcolm X the man who people remember today. From a very early age, Little lived in fear of racism and hate groups, much of it rooting from his father’s murder by white supremacists. He was effectively orphaned by 13, as his mother was placed in a mental institution, and lived until he was 20 in several different foster homes. He was arrested for a crime and once released, went on to commit several crimes, including using and distributing drugs, etc. It was when he was imprisoned that he found the Nation of Islam, who helped him when he was released from prison to find a new life. From them, he was able to attain great oratory skills and create an environment when he spoke in which the people around him, white and black alike, felt empowered and equal. Once he discovered corruption and began to disdain the Nation of Islam, he became independent and was later assassinated. However, he along with MLK, were empowered by their stories, Malcolm’s being one of hatred, poverty, hope, and truth, that changed him to become a stimulus for African American equality in
Here McGary focuses on two conflicting approaches to racial discrimination which is used as solutions, being the “racial separatist approach” and “racial integration approach” and he compares and contrasts these two approaches but not to choose which is better than the other. In section ‘I’ he explains how some African-American leaders such as Malcolm X, Edward W. Blyden and many more, advocated racial separatism as a way to solving race related issues. They feel by keeping the races separate, one will be aware and have pride of their culture. In section ”II” the author explains some social, economic, etc. arguments that separatist may make and shuts them down by stating the arguments flaws and trying to come up with a better solution . In section ‘III’ he speaks specifically about culture and how separatists define the word “culture” which they often switch the words with ethnicity and race. He also talkes about self esteem and respect.In section ‘IV’McGary speaks about the inegrationist wich include Federick Douglas, Martin Luther Kig,Jr., plus many others. He states that integrationists reject the black separatist point of views when it comes to white racism. They feel separatism is immoral. He then states that the term “integration” can not be defined. He states ‘integration allows for the coexistence of racial identities within a single socioeconomic framework”.In section
he had grown frustrated with the non-violent, integrated struggle for civil rights and worried that blacks would ultimately lose control of their own movement. The reason Malcolm X was so beloved and iconic was due to him being a key figure in the black movement about the same time as Martin Luther King jr.. The era of the 1950-1960, advocating black pride, a separate black community and violence disguised as self defense. He stood against white aggression. Changing the last name of his to an x to demonstrate how he denies what he said to be a “slave” name. Charismatic and eloquent. His death in 1965 is what sparked and later laid the firm foundation for the Black Power movements in the late 1960s and 1970s. Opposite to popular belief, this man had done more harm than good in using violence against the white “devil”. It only proved those that though African Americans were only violent animals right. Even Martin Luther King Jr didn't like what how Malcolm X was going about gaining their civil rights , even going as far as saying he hated the use of the words “black power” because. Ultimately Malcolm didn't make any type of immensely big impact on the civil rights movement in a good way or help them stop the spread of racism and
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.
Malcolm set everything in motion when he converted to the Nation of Islam, an African American movement that combined elements of Islam with Black Nationalism. While in prison, his siblings persuaded him to write to the Nation’s leader, Elijah Muhammad. X was uneasy at first, but came around shortly. Malcolm wrote Muhammad a one-page letter each day in curiosity about the Nation of Islam. Muhammad replied as the “Messenger of Allah” welcoming Malcolm into the “true knowledge” (Haley 195). Before X’s release in nineteen fifty-two, he went under an intense self-educated program by reading books in the prison library, and even memorizing an entire dictionary. He also sharpened his forensic skills by participating in debate classes. When Malcolm was released from prison he had his first official visit with Muhammad in Chicago, he devoted his life to the Muslim ministry. Soon Malcolm began traveling and preaching with other ministers. He picked up their techniques and devoured their knowledge. Malcolm quickly rose in the Nation of Islam ranks becoming minister of Temple number eleven in Boston and Muhammad’s most effective recruiter and spokesman. Soon after, X was rewarded minister of Temple number seven in Harlem, New York, the largest and most prestigious after the Chicago Headquarters and eventually named the National Representative of the Nation of Islam, second in rank behind Muhammad himself. Under X’s lieutenancy the nation claimed a membership of five-hundred thousand, as the numbers grew X’s teachings began to change; he wanted to make a vast difference. He spread the glorious history of African Americans. He urged the Nation to become more active in the civil rights protest instead of being a critic on the side. X articulated the Nation’s racial doctrines of evil
...e was removed from their minds by the religion of Islam” (Kershaw). Malcolm X discovered that Islam is the religion of peace. After traveling to Africa and doing some soul searching, Malcolm X found his organization, Muslim Mosque, Inc. He had a new peaceful outlook and would say things like, “I believe in human beings, and that all human beings should be respected as such, regardless of their color” (Kershaw). Unfortunately Malcolm X was killed about a year after finding his organization.
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.
The history of the United States has in it much separation or segregation due to race. For a long time our country has seen racism as a large problem and this has caused ethnic groups to be looked down upon and forced into a lifestyle of difficulties and suppression. Due to this, races, particularly African-Americans, have been forced to deal with unequal opportunity and poverty, leading to less honorable ways of getting by and also organizations that support change. Malcolm X is one strong example of an African American man who became apart of a group acted against it, uniting people to promote the advancement of colored people and change. Malcolm's thoughts towards race and civil right in the previous years were displayed in a less way to the people and "by any means necessary" perspective. After his pilgrimage in 1964 his view of civil rights had quickly changed into a more complete view of civil rights, and the peoples views towards him. No one really knows what kind of impact Malcolm X would have had on history if he had not been assassinated. His beliefs and philosophy did gain him a place in history as one of the best-known Black Nationalist Leaders. Everyone seems to have known who Malcolm X was, and he ranks high with all other Black leaders. His ideas were radical and he was very out spoken. He was a major force in the development of black history. He fought not only for his people but also for all oppressed people everywhere. He was well spoken and he laid the groundwork for the black power movement of the late l960's.
Malcolm X did not want for the African Americans to have to suffer through any more oppression than they had already been facing.
...o their efforts. Black Americans who are audiences of the speech of Malcolm X will relate what he said to their own life. His point is change the view of Black Americans that they should be treated equally to White Americans. We are born in the same way and we can’t choose our identities so why we are treated differently just because our identities?