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malcolm x learning to read for discussion and writing
A HOMEMADE EDUCATION Malcolm X
malcolm x learning to read for discussion and writing
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Breaking Barriers In the essay “Learning to Read” Malcolm X explains his personal transformation during the time he spent in jail. With only an eighth grade education, Malcolm became jealous of the intellectual gap between other inmates and himself. He began to read books from the Norfolk Prison Colony’s library, but he could not understand most of the words (275). This led Malcolm to obtain a dictionary and copy down each word in it. He started to devour books after enhancing his vocabulary and was finally able to understand the themes and make connections within the books he read (275). Astonished and overjoyed, Malcolm felt as if a whole new world was open to him, and all he had to do was fill his mind with all of its knowledge. He became a walking encyclopedia; however, the reason he yearned to gain knowledge was because he thought there was power in knowledge. With the amount of power gained in prison, he became an influential activist (281). …show more content…
He follows the teachings of Elijah Muhammad, which explains how history books have been altered to suit the likings of the white race (X 276). Elijah Muhammad was Malcolm’s mentor, and he was an African American religious leader who led the Nation of Islam in the early to the mid-twentieth century too. Malcolm emphasizes how minority groups have been left out of history texts, and for this reason, he believes that the white race is evil. There are multiple examples Malcolm gives of the white race being immoral and hypocritical. Slavery, the Opium Wars, and the Crusades were all actions against the minorities of the world and completed without true reason or morals; therefore, Malcolm became an activist for the betterment of minority
Before, Malcolm believed that all white people were the devil, even the ones who did not have issues with the blacks. He believed that racism was so deeply rooted in them, that even if they claimed to not be a racist, if put in the position where his status was threatened by the black man, he would find away to make himself better. However, this perception of white people changed—“I have eaten from the same plate, drunk from the same glass, and slept in the same bed, while praying to the same God, with fellow Muslims, whose eyes were the bluest of blue, and whose hair was the blondest of blonde, and whose skin was the whitest of white.” (p.347). Malcolm realized that in Mecca, people did not pay attention to someone’s race because they were all there to worship the same God. This event shows systemic oppression in the text contrasting the different societies in America and Mecca. In America, if one were black, they would have a certain standard to which they had to live by. In Mecca, race did not matter and it was over looked—people were not expected to fit into a certain class and act particular way based on the color of their
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.
Malcolm X was often encountered by Muslims from other countries who wished to “enlighten” him with what they felt was true Islam. He was initially very skeptical towards these claims but eventually his curiosity got the better of him. To get to know the religion better, Malcolm was directed by his friends to an Egyptian professor in New York, Dr. Mahmoud Youssef
He was in jail thus he only had the library and his room to read and write he liked reading more in his room than at the library for that the reason that he preferred the isolation. He hated when they would announce, "lights out." Due to the fact that he wanted to keep on reading one of his books that’s why whenever that came into the announcement he would to go his bed and wait for the nightly security guards to pass by. Then as soon as they walked by his cell he would go into a little corner where there was a light glow. He would wait for exactly fifty-eight minutes to pass till the next security guards would pass by again. He would continue to jump from in and out of his bed to his little corner every time security passed again thus he wouldn't get caught. Malcolm said himself, “I knew right there in prison that reading had changed my life forever the course of my life. The ability to read awoke inside of me some long dormant craving to mentally alive.”
In “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” the author skillfully structures each chapter to correspond with Malcolm’s development and implants a sense of purpose throughout each event.
...ica. Anna Hartwell states, “Christianity occupies a central place in Malcolm’s account of white supremacy, in both its global and domestic incarnations” (Hartwell). She also states, “Against this Christian tainted legacy, Malcolm X counterpoises Islam as “the true religion of the black man”. Islamic universalism proffered for him an alternative to U.S. citizenship, which had constantly failed to live up to its promises for African Americans” (Hartwell). Malcolm X had an understandable dislike of the system of white supremacy because it is a system that thrives from people being on the bottom who have higher percentages of taxes taken out paychecks even though they make far less than everyone else. The thing about white supremacy is that it affects in a negative way poor people of all colors, but black people suffer the most for obvious reasons. This was the message
In fact, up to then, I never had been so free in my life” (Goshgarian pg. 144). He probably felt free because reading can be excited when you put yourself into the story. Having knowledge led him to a freedom that he never felt before in his life. The literacy changed his life and inspired him to find an interest in history. He began reading books on black history and how white people discriminated against black people and how they treated the colored men. In the article it says, “But at that time, I felt that the real reason was that the white man knew that he was the devil” (Goshgarian pg. 142). After reading the stories about the stuff white men did to black men Malcolm decided to join the nation of Islam.
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 his article, Malcolm describes the way he spent seven years in prison and uses his time to give himself an education. He gets a dictionary and starts to read it over and over to study the words
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
When people go to prison, the majority of them do not learn as Malcolm does when he studies in the prison library. Malcolm realizes that “The best thing I could do was to get hold of a dictionary- to study, to learn some words. I was lucky enough to reason also that I should try to improve my penmanship" (198). This shows how he has an open mind, because despite quitting school, he never loses the interest in learning. Reading dictionaries usually happen in school, but Malcolm X learns to understand words from different ranges of difficulty in prison. He learns to read and write on his own, and even pays more attention to education in prison than he did when he briefly went to school. Prison is what helped Malcolm X prepare for his upcoming life situations. His education in prison is the foundation of how his becoming of a well rounded speaker
Malcolm X has truly captured the hearts of many. From his empowering personality to his amazing life story, he is a figure history can never forget. His autobiography is a full and honest account of his life, his struggle against racism, mistakes, regrets, choices good and bad, as well as discove...
Malcolm X's multiple points of view, organization, and diction in his powerful and passionate overview of his life give the reader a more diverse reading and learning experience that they can easily understand.
The reading on Malcolm X had lots of points that hit everyday society in America for African Americans. Malcolm X was like any other man hustling on the streets to get by, like a lot you see in today society with the drug dealers and such. Starting off Malcolm X was not an intelligent man; he didn’t know how to write without a little slang to his words, he didn’t know how to articulate what he wanted to be said. Malcolm X was convicted of robbery and was sent to Charleston Prison, but was later sent off to the Norfolk Prison Colony School, this is where he gave himself the educated needed to be a well productive citizen. Malcolm X stated, “I saw that the best thing I could do was get hold of a dictionary-to study, to learn some new words (p.211). “I spent two days just riffling uncertainly through the dictionary’s pages.” “Finally, just to start some kind of action, I began copying.” Here Malcolm X is seeing his time being served in prisons to not only be a lessoned learned but to learn something that he knew he would never learn...
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.