Malcolm X Essay Research Paper Malcolm Little

Malcolm X Essay, Research Paper

Malcolm Little, a revolutionary black power advocate and civil rights leader was brought into this world on May 19, 1925. The period of Malcolm.s life from 1952 to his assassination in 1965 will be discussed thoroughly in this essay. Malcolm believed that a common foe, the white man, hindered black, brown, red, and yellow people.s freedom worldwide throughout most of his life. Malcolm was a balck nationalist or seperateist during most of his life too. Malcolm in one of his last interviews said that he had made mistakes during his life, and he was accountable for these mistakes. Malcolm.s biggest mistake was holding the racist view that all white men are evil, but he later altered this view. A man who takes responsibility for his actions, is noble: Malcolm X was noble because he stood in the face of the black Muslims, and said, .I was wrong in holding that all white men are evil, and you are wrong also, if you hold this belief.. Malcolm X was murdered because he had a noble soul, he fought ferociously for .colored. people.s freedom, and this is what he should be remembered for.

Malcolm was the fourth child born to Earl and Louise Little. Malcolm.s father was a Christian minister, he worked for the unity of black people and this determination rubbed off on Malcolm. Earl and Louise worked for the Universal Negro Improvement Association, which urged blacks to free themselves from white dependence. The UNIA, taught black people to be proud of their blackness, and its members promoted the .back to Africa. movement. Malcolm.s home life was plagued by physical hunger: .Malcolm.s mother, would boil up a big pot of dandelion greens to feed her eleven children, all of them dizzy from hunger….[on] luckier days they would eat cornmeal mush. ( Gallen, 1) Despite this physical hunger Malcolm was spiritually fed by his family. Malcolm.s father was murdered when he was six years old. The KKK had threatened Earl Little on several occasions. Malcolm continued to attend and do well in school throughout his adolescence. Malcolm graduated the eighth grade, but at the age of fifteen he dropped out of school and began to run the streets. Malcolm began to make acquaintances with dope dealers, thieves, hoodlums, and pimps. At the age of twenty Malcolm, was convicted of burglary, he served seven years in prison. Malcolm spent his time in jail educating himself. In prison Malcolm learned about the Nation of Islam and the black Muslims, who advocated racial separation and preached an anti-white doctrine. In prison Malcolm changed his last name to X because he felt that African American.s had lost their true identity under slavery. Malcolm did not want to continue living under his false identity, with his .Little. badge of slavery. The European Americans had made the black community commit crime, by keeping them socially, economically, politically, and educationally disadvantaged. This was the reason, Malcolm believed, that blacks were overpopulating America.s prisons. In prison Malcolm read ferociously, allowing him to gain a wide scope of knowledge that would help him become the superior orator that he was. In 1952, Malcolm was released from prison a changed man.

For most of Malcolm X.s life he was a racist: Malcolm was just reacting to the bigotry of white peoples. Malcolm was only racist towards white people. Malcolm justified his racism, by saying it was the .hate. that .hate. produced. White people hated black people therefore, it was legitimate to hate white people. Malcolm said the .Negro problem. should be renamed the .white man.s problem. because it was not the Negro who believed in the superiority of its race; it was not the Negro who enslaved millions of white peoples.[] The .white man.s problem. is that he enslaved blacks, and still believes in white supremacy. Malcolm said, .You [African Americans] catch hell whether you.re a Baptist, or a Methodist, or a Muslim, or a nationalist… you.re going to catch hell just like I [do]. We.re in the same boat and we all are going to catch hell from the same [white] man.. [Malcolm x speaks, 24] Malcolm X taught a philosophy that believed that the white man was the devil. White devils deprived colored people of their rights, he used terror tactics to hinder the black political voice, and he enacted a cast system to keep the black man down. Malcolm said that: .all of us have suffered here, in this country, political oppression, economic exploitation, and social degradation at the hands of … white [men]…. If the white man doesn.t want us to be anti-him, [then] let him stop oppressing and exploiting and degrading us.. [Malcolm x speaks, pp 25] Malcolm.s racism stemmed from his following of Elijah Muhammad, but when he left the .black Muslims. he altered his anti-white views.

Malcolm believed that if blacks were going to be free then they would have to free themselves by using any means nessecary. Malcolm said that freedom or, .independence comes only by two ways; by ballots or by bullets…historically you.ll find that everyone…gets freedom… through ballots or bullets.. [Gallen 199] Malcolm felt that if black peoples could not use ballots to be free, like black people in the south or those in the north whose rights were hindered by gerrymandering, then bullets were the next option. The civil rights movement did not help the black peoples of the north, and the greatest constituency of his followers came from