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The late, and great, Nelson Mandela once said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world,” … he must have been referring to X. It is undeniable that X fascinated and moved a prejudiced world with his radical, yet knowledgeable notions towards change. Malcom X, minister and human rights activist, displays his approach to higher learning, while in solitary confinement, in a selection from his autobiography, found in the chapter, “Saved.” X’s purpose is to inspire people to further their education, while providing a glimpse into his own struggle to grasp one. A didactic and enthusiastic tone is used in order to properly execute his message to his audience, which are primarily African-Americans who have been ensnared …show more content…
He commences his piece by referencing his trying past, stating, “In the street, I had been the most articulate hustler out there…” and follows that statement with, “…trying to write simple English, I not only wasn’t articulate, I wasn’t even functional,” (X 502-3). He openly admits his transition from strength to vulnerability, dominance to inferiority. Surely, X expected his readers to relate to the struggle of not being fluent in English, which he is ultimately effective in doing, but I don’t think he realized its capacity. Malcom X most likely wanted to relate to people of his same pigment, however, even after his fatal passing, decades later, he reaches several immigrants in the U.S. and people who prioritize a different language, other than English. For him, his other language consisted of dialogue like, “Look, daddy, let me pull your coat about a cat…” which is a different language in itself— slang (503). X pretty much embodies the result of the positive consequences that an education gives, which has got to be empowering for many. Beyond relating to those who seek to have a second chance at life (in education terms), he also relates to those behind bars who hope for another chance at society. He admits that a prisoner named “Bimbi” influenced his path to knowledge, which suggests that there were, and are, other prisoners who want to be productive upon reentering
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.
In the "Letter from a Birmingham Jail", Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. responds to an article by eight clergymen, in which he explains the racial injustice in Birmingham, and reasons why King's organization is protesting for Civil Rights. He introduces himself and his actions at the beginning of his letter. He states that the purpose of his direct action protest is to open the door for negotiation on the Civil Rights. He tries to convince his audience by providing evidence in order to gain his audience to be involved in his movement and support him. He also highlights police actions against nonviolent Negros and crimes against humanity in Birmingham city jail.
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...
We can say that different people have their own hardship in their life. However, for Malcolm X, he came from minority group that being oppressed that for sure his life more miserable than us. The first issue is regarding his teacher. As a teacher, he should encourages his students to be what they want to be in the future without care about their races. In this world, we have same opportunity to become a success person. So, how can his teacher, demotivate Malcolm by saying all those things. His action of course disobey the teaching ettiquette and the most important thing is he devalues the dignity of others human being. By this action, I can say that status that someone had does not guarantee he or she should be respect until they showed the value of humanity in themselves first. The teacher should be blame of or becoming the reason of dropoutof Malcolm. Because of his teacher perception towards him, Malcolm started to leave school and this is the starting point where he involved with all the criminals matters. Sometimes, as a human being we should think first before we speak as we do not know whether it can give positive or negative impact towards the
Eight Alabama clergymen made a public statement directed towards Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. containing many criticisms against the civil rights movement. The criticisms were as follows: (1) The issue of race relations should be handled by local leaders instead of “outsiders” like himself. (2) Pressing the court and negotiation among local leaders is a better path. (3) The Negro community should be more patient, for the workings of the legal system take time. (4) The demonstrations are “unwise and untimely.” (5) The methods used by demonstrators are extreme and (6) If it weren’t for the police, your demonstrations would have turned violent. As a result, King, while imprisoned in the Birmingham City Jail, wrote them a lengthy letter that refuted all of the aforementioned criticisms and then proceeded to express his disappointment in them for saying such things. Through his skillful use of diction, anaphoras, rhetorical appeals, and syntax, King successfully achieves his purposes: to refute claims made by the eight clergymen while justifying his reasons for the demonstrations he lead and to encourage the clergymen to join his cause.
Malcom X’s outlook on race goes through many stages of change throughout his life. As a child, Malcom X was immediately categorized as black and poor, therefore being a lower class citizen and creating a lack of exposure and diversity of ideologies. As he grows up and meets new people he is introduced to different lifestyles and for once has an opportunity to choose what kind of life he is going to lead. This creates a young man who does not his own identity and is soul searching. Ideas are introduced to him slowly. Everybody he meets has something new and exciting to offer to him.
“I don’t even call it violence when it’s in self defense; I call it intelligence.” were once words spoken from a man greatly known in the African American community. This man was Malcolm X. An expressive public speaker, with a charismatic personality, and an untiring organizer, Malcolm X expressed the pent up anger, frustration, and bitterness of African Americans during the major phase of the civil rights movement from 1955 to 1965. Malcolm X spoke of a violent revolution, which would bring about radical change for the black race, while a man with the name of Martin Luther King Jr. spoke out to all people. Martin Luther King Jr. promoted non-violence, civil rights, and the end to racial segregation, while Malcolm X dreamed of a separate nation for African Americans. Malcolm’s keen intellect, sharp wit, and passionate radicalism are clear in The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Alex Haley. However Things such as his personality, his career and the impact that he’s had on history may have changed if certain key events in his life had been different.
Malcolm X: His very name is a stab to the beliefs of the white supremacists of his time"X" symbolizing "the rejection of slave-names' and the absence of an inherited African name to take its place." Similarly, in his speech "The Ballot or the Bullet", Malcolm X denounces the actions of the white population, without any attempts to appeal to them; his approach to the civil rights issue is in complete opposition to the tactics of other civil rights leaders of his time, such as Martin Luther King, Jr. Rather than trying to integrate the black community into the white, he focuses on the complete separation of them: he doesn't want the blacks to integrate into the white hotels, he wants blacks to own the hotels. He believed that the black population had to break the psychological, cultural, economic, and political dependency on their oppressors. By using tactical phrasing of his sentences that connects to his audience emotionally, Malcolm X attacks the tendency of African-Americans to identify with White America, and insists they identify instead with Africans, their ancestors; thus, he promotes his purpose: to instill a feeling of self-respect and self-help in his fellow African-Americans, which in turn is the stepping stone to the liberation of the Black people.
Malcolm x was one of the great civil rights leaders during the 1960’s. He spoke for self-sufficiency and rights for all and believed; “I’m for truth, no matter who tells it. I'm for justice, no matter who it's for or against.” (Malcolm X). Malcolm X was at a great disadvantage all through his life. He was treated badly by the white population in Lansing, Michigan; his family was the only African Americans to attend the local schools. Malcolm X was rejected and often left out from pursing any opportunities throughout his whole life. This made him vulnerable, as a youngster to logical ideologies. From the time he was little he never settled for status quo, it was his hopes and ambitions that kept him searching for the truth.
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.
The autobiography of Malcolm X captures the personal growth and the journey of Malcolm Little, also known as Malcolm X. Throughout his life, Malcolm’s experiences shaped him into the human rights activist that we are all familiar with today. In his early age Malcolm believed every white person was malicious, he was a criminal, and he believed that Christianity prevented the progression of African Americans- later on in life, Malcolm became a controversial human rights activist, believed that white people were “well-meaning” people, and was a devout Muslim (pg. 383).
As one of the most proficient civil rights activist of the 1960's, Malcolm X and his speeches were very influential but particularly one speech was highly esteemed, that being the Ballot or the Bullet speech. A speech that was given after the "I have A Dream speech by Dr. Martin Luther King. Despite, Dr. Martin Luther King being a pacifist and also a civil rights activist as well; Malcolm X was more tyrannical and advocated the use of violence. During this era, the democrats were in control of the House of Representatives and the Senate, therefore both the Senate and the House of Representatives were leaning towards providing more civil rights to African-Americans. The purpose of Malcolm X’s speech was to convince African Americans to become more politically aware and to vote members of their own race into office. The year 1964 is known for civil rights activists, racist groups, and political strife. In order to achieve this goal and increase the speeches effectiveness, X utilizes a variety of rhetorical strategies within his speech.
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.
Malcolm X attended school and did well academically; he was only black student in the classroom. His goal was to become the first black lawyer .The defining moment in Malcolm life is when he shared his career goal with his teacher. Malcolm’s teacher stated “one of life’s first needs is to be realistic”...
“Prison Studies” is an excerpt out of the charismatic leader Malcolm X’s autobiography. Throughout the excerpt, he tells about the other prison inmates as being walking dictionaries, and wanting to be like them is what motivated Malcolm to want to educate himself. Secondly, he tells us about going through every page in the dictionary and writing down everything right down to the punctuation to work on penmanship and to learn vocabulary. Once he learned the English language, he started reading and writing books, up to fifteen hours a day, to try to fulfill his curiosity. Malcolm X had a purpose when writing “Prison Studies” and a certain audience he was trying to reach, and he made a big assumption that he expected readers to understand.