Malcolm X Essay Research Paper Malcom X

Malcolm X Essay, Research Paper

Malcom X, born Malcom Little, embodied the heart and soul of African people, not only in America but also all around the world. He articulated the hurt and pain they suffered during that trying time. Malcom proved that your life doesn t have to start out perfect to become a good man. He proved that one should not judge another by the color of his skin but by his character.

Malcom s earliest memory came when he was four years old. He was awakened the middle of the night because his house had caught on fire. His father, Earl Little, claimed two white men started the fire and he had chased them off with his gun. But the police said Earl himself had done it because he recently lost a battle in court to keep the house. They said he did it out of revenge but no charges were made for lack of evidence (Stine, 4).

His father favored Malcom and though he beat his wife and other children Earl didn t beat him. Malcom was the only one his father took to his U.N.I.A. meetings. When Malcom s mother tried to punish him he d scream so loudly she would stop of embarrassment. Malcom later said, I learned early that crying out in protest could accomplish things (Haley, 11)

One day Malcom came home from school to find his parent s arguing again. His mother was against eating rabbits and pork but the Littles raised rabbits to sell to whites. In those hard times food was tough to get so his father killed a rabbit for dinner. His mother and father got in an argument over this and though she started to prepare it anyways Earl walked out. That night two officers came to the house to tell his mother Earl was found dead on some railroad tracks. Once again two stories were presented; the first being that white men in the Black Legion, which was a group like the KKK, had murdered Earl. But the Police said he was alive when they got there and claimed it was an accident (Stine, 9). It was 1931.

After his fathers death the family began to fall apart. They were very poor and eventually had to go on welfare. With welfare agent s making constant visits Lousie, Malcom s mother, began to become distant. She soon started talking to herself and eventually she suffered a complete breakdown and was sent to the State Mental Hospital at Kalamazoo (Haley, 22). Malcom moved into juvenile home but fifteen in 1941 he moved him to Boston with his half sister Ella.

In Boston he met a friend called he called Shorty who got him a job at a ballroom shinning shoes and introduced him to hassling. He began dating a white lady named Sophia but Ella disapproved and got Malcom a railroad job. This job kept him on the go and he liked that but he didn t give up Sophia. He came back to Boston several times a week and when he finally stayed in New York she still supplied him with clothes and money (Stine, 25)

He stayed in Harlem and got a job Small s Paradise whose rules were no lateness, no laziness, no stealing, and no hassling. Malcom tried to stay straight but one day he hustled a customer and when Charlie Small found out he fired Malcom. So Malcom was back out on the tough streets of Harlem selling marijuana to musicians and doing drugs himself. Then he became a number runner who passed along illegal bets and later he robbed neighborhood stores (Haley, 93).

In 1945 after avoiding the draft Malcom went back to Boston and met up with Sophia and a few friends and began burglarizing private homes. Sophia and two of her girlfriends knew many wealthy people in Boston so they pointed out the houses for Malcom and a friend Malcom Jarvis to rob. They kept robbing for several weeks until Malcom made a mistake. He took a stolen watch in to get repaired but the clerk recognized the watch and called the police. He was arrested and at the station he confessed his crimes and named his accomplices including Sophia. The girls claimed to have been forced to help and got one to five years in jail but the men got a harsher sentence. Malcom got ten years hard labor and Malcom Jarvis got eight to ten years (Stine, 29)

Malcom spent nearly seven years in prison and the details are well told in his autobiography. He says his cell is so small you can lie on the bed and put a hand on each wall. The toilets were just covered pails because there was no running water. He remembers that in jail all you have is a number but he couldn t remember it at the time. He was often insubordinate like not responding when his number was called and shouting obscenities and his cellmates nicknamed him Satan (Haley, 176) He got high off of nutmeg and began hustling with the guards and got some reefer too.

Malcom struck up a friendship with a convict named Bimbi. Bimbi could even attract whites and guards to hear him converse over subjects. Bimbi straightened Malcom out and told him he was not Satan . He told Malcom that he had brains, if only he d use them. Malcom took his advice and began a correspondence course in English. He got a letter from one of his brothers saying he should join the Nation of Islam as he had. At first he disregarded the letter and the notion to convert but one day Reginald, one of his brothers, visited him. In his autobiography the conversation went something like this:

Reginald, There s a man who knows everything.

Malcom, Who is that.

God is a man, His real name is Allah.

Reginald went on and explained