Malcolm X

Malcolm X

On May, 19, 1925 Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little in Omaha, Nebraska. By 1942 Malcolm was coordinating various criminal acts. By 1946 Malcolm had been convicted of robbery, and sent to Charlestown prison where he was to serve seven years. That is where his acquired knowledge of reading began. During Malcolms childhood there was a lot of racism, and downgrading of the black population. As in the history books when he was a child the history of the Negro's were summed up in one short paragraph with mockery and degrading of the Negro’s appearances, and stature. My thought on this reading is that it is very insightful, I did not know all of the aspects of Malcolm life, or did I understand his actions; however, I am more inclined to understand his views, and what he stood for; even though, I do not agree with his radical ways he had the right to believe what he believes. Two major ways reading changed Malcolm X's perception of himself and the world was the recognition of himself, and the piratical actions of the white men around the nations.

Becoming a zealous reader Malcolm developed an image of being an articulate self- made man, and leader for human rights among the black population. Malcolm X acquired such knowledge from reading, writing, and as a result he began to grow inside as a man “ I suppose it was inevitable that as my word base broadened, I could for the first time pick up a book and read and now began to understand what the book was saying” ( Malcolm X- Learning to Read). Therefore in turn this broadened his horizon, outlook on life, and instilled in him a sense of self- recognition “ the ability to read awoke inside me some long dormant craving to be mentally alive” ( Malcolm X- Learning to ...

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...preaching acceptance and forgiveness, he prepared people to meet violence with violence. Malcolm views on segregation were as equally out of the normalcy as well during the 1960's racial tensions were high when the black men and women were fighting for their rights to be included and accepted Malcolm preached for separation. Malcolm viewed segregation as being a plus he wanted the black communities to cut all political, social ties with the white communities. His philosophy was that separation would be the best solution for all concerned he considered all white men to be devils and cowards which in instances were true; consequently, his beliefs were clouded by all of the negative actions that he read about rather than considering the positive actions taken by the white population. As well all he saw was unity as having a pessimistic impact on black civilizations.