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The Turning Point In The Autobiography Of Malcolm X

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Three key events in The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley where Malcolm has an encountered his teacher Mr.Ostrowski, he ends up in jail, and his journey to Mecca. These events in the book interact to develop three central ideas; systemic oppression, racial identity, and integration v. separation. These turning points in Malcolm X’s life molded into the person he is famous and remembered for today. The early stages of Malcolm Little’s intelligence began when the family moved from Omaha, Nebraska to Lansing, Michigan. Once born in Lansing, Malcolm would start growing up and becoming very good inside the classroom at school. Little would be the only African American in the classroom during the 20th century but he would get good …show more content…

Still using the last name Little at the time, he ends up in jail in Massachusetts and is struggling with the transition of having his freedom to cutting all connections from the outside world. The struggles continues to go until a man approaches him, tells Malcolm that he is one of the most intelligent negroes in the prison, and could be out of prison in a few years with good behavior. Malcolm doesn’t believe what the man says until he introduces Elijah Muhammad and the Muslim religion. Once the man takes Malcolm under his wing, he starts to change his character and begins to study what the Muslim religion is and how to act. After realizing that he doesn’t sound intelligent as he used to when he was young, he begins to read the dictionary to improve his vocabulary, read literature books, and get a full education while he’s behind bars. He starts to realize what the purpose of Elijah Muhammad’s message him and begins to praise him by calling him “The Honorable Elijah Muhammad teaches…”. Malcolm changed his last name because in the teachings of Muhammad and the Muslim religion the last name that was given to him was the last name of his grandfather’s slave owner; therefore making it unknown what his actual last name was and hence changing his name from “Malcolm Little” to “Malcolm X”. X would get out his prison well early and once out, he would continue to preach the …show more content…

After getting banned ninety days by The Honorable Elijah Muhammad for his comments on the assignation on John F. Kennedy assignation, Malcolm decides to take a trip to Mecca to see if the same Muslim religion that Muhammad is teaching is just like the one in Africa. When he gets to Mecca, he is immediately found apron. X notices that there are a lot of major differences between the two of the supposedly same religions. Muhammad’s Muslim religion teaches that the white man is the devil, everything is their fault, and they shouldn’t be associated with the Muslim religion because they wouldn’t comprehend. However in Mecca, Malcolm noticed that there was nothing wrong with the white man according to the religion and he saw that some of the white species were preaching and praising the Muslim religion. X learns the proper way of praying on his knees and the Arabic language of the religion whereas in Muhammad’s teachings the language was English and the wrong proper way of praying. Malcolm makes the inference of noticing the segregation of the Islamic religion in Mecca while there was separation of the religion in the United States. He begins to realize that the teachings of Elijah Muhammad were completely false and everything he believed in was a lie to him. Once learning this, he changed his name from “Malcolm X” to “el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz”. This is when he starts to separate himself from the

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In the Epilogue written by Alex Haley for The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Haley describes a note that Malcom X had written during an interview that read “‘My life has always been one of changes’”, and this was proven to be true throughout the course of the narrative (410). In the chapter “Minister Malcolm X”, Malcolm X writes about the joy he received by talking about Elijah Muhammad, helping him, and simply being around him. To demonstrate this he writes, “I believed that he had been divinely send to our people by Allah Himself.” (218). He is then dealt a “Major blow” when Elijah Muhammad begins to oust him from the Nation of Islam (312).

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Malcolm X, Born in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1925 Malcolm X, was an activist and outspoken public voice of the Black Muslim faith, challenged the mainstream civil rights movement and the nonviolent pursuit of integration championed by Martin Luther King Jr. He urged followers to defend themselves against white aggression "by any means necessary." Born Malcolm little, he changed his last name to X to signify his rejection of his "slave" name. Charismatic and eloquent, Malcolm became an influential leader of the Nation of Islam, which combined Islam with Black Nationalism and sought to encourage and enfranchise disadvantaged young blacks

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• Here he begins reading as many books as possible and educating himself. 1947 • Transferred to Concord Reformatory for fifteen months. • Influenced by some family members and impressed by letters from Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm converts to the Nation of Islam (not to be confused with actual Islam). 1952 • Malcolm is released from prison after six years (instead of eight to ten) and meets Elijah Muhammad in Chicago. It is here that he receives the legendary 'X' from the Nation of Islam 1953 • The FBI opens a surveillance file on Malcolm.

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The way that Malcolm X talked about his religion is that of someone who persecutes everyone around him. The way that he saw everything while he was part of the Black Muslims was only black and white. The Nation of Islam and their leader clearly stated that all white men were devils and as such Christianity was the white man’s religion. It is also stated that everything pure and good was aimed towards those who were black. While the persecution of Christians by the nation of Islam was perfectly fine.

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His father Earl Little was an outspoken Baptist church minister who had a target on his back. After his father’s death and his mother being institutionalized him and his eight siblings went into foster care; after dropping out of high school he moved all around picking up new things. He had become a pimp, started gambling and robbery. January 12, 1946, Malcolm was arrested for burglary for a stolen watch he had taken to get repaired. After being in prison he started reading everything he could and was inspired by his brothers’ conversion to Islam.

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Malcolm was born on, May 19, 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska. His mother was Norton little and his was Earl little. The family had eight children. Earls civil rights activism caused death threats from white people. Their Lansing, Michigan home was burned to the ground.

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Thesis: In “The Autobiography of Malcolm X”, Malcolm X in his telling of his life to Alex Haley uncovers the theme of positive and negative environments unearthed by the interaction of African Americans and White Americans in his life and what those kinds of environments inherently produce. Annotated Bibliography Nelson, Emmanuel S. Ethnic American Literature: an Encyclopedia for Students. Greenwood, An Imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC, 2015.This encyclopedia points out that the negative interaction he held with the white man as a young hustler was countered by these same experiences pushing Malcolm X to reclaim his “African identity”. This shows, as described by the cited work, what a man pushed by his negative interactions with the oppressive white men is willing to do to find his identity (i.e. through hustling).

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The author uses structural choice throughout the autobiography showing how Malcolm’s experience in life. Malcolm X’s autobiography begins at a night when the KKK shows

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Throughout the Autobiography of Malcolm X there are several key events the bring out the central ideas of the text. Some examples of the key events was when Mr. Ostrowski lectured Malcolm, when Malcolm was in jail and he learned the teachings of Elijah Muhammad, and when Malcolm made his pilgrimage to Mecca. A closer look at the central ideas would show that they build on one another. When Malcolm was going to school his teacher, Mr. Ostrowski, told home to give up his dream of being a lawyer,” Malcolm, one of life’s first needs is to be realistic.

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These events that occurred during his early life later play a major part of the reason why Malcolm becomes so obsessed with racial politics in

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Malcolm Little was born on May 19, 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska. His mother and father were Earl and Louise little, at the time they couldn't have known how troublesome he would be, but at the same time he himself could never imagined that he would be a leader for the black society. Growing up Malcolm was a troublesome young boy he got into to mountains of trouble and ended up in jail. February 27th is when his life changed, he had started his ten year sentence in the Massachusetts State Prison in Charlestown. In jail he was nicknamed ¨Satan¨ because of his hostility towards the Christian religion.

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On 19 May 1925, Louise Little gave birth to Malcolm Little in Omaha, Nebraska. At first, Malcolm Little led a troubled path of preaching radical Islam and opposing desegregation and integration, but later he converted and worked for racial equality. Because he challenged power, told of immediate troubles, suffered discontent, and provided fear of the Lord, one might call Malcolm a modern-day prophet. In other words, Malcolm shows the characteristics of an ancient prophet, thus making him a modern prophet. Although Malcolm was born in Nebraska, his family moved to Lansing, Michigan when he was just an infant.

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Malcolm X was born on May 19, 1925, in Omaha, Nebraska, the seventh of eleven children. Shortly after his birth, his family moved to Lansing, Michigan, where his family was harassed by whites who disagreed with his father’s black nationalist views. When Malcolm was 6, his father was murdered, and his mother had a nervous breakdown. Malcolm and his siblings were taken by welfare agencies.

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Malcolm X was an American Muslim leader who contributed to the Civil Rights Movement by spreading his ideas of black nationalism in the 1950s and early ’60s. He was an influential figure in a black Islamic organization, Nation of Islam, and served as a spokesperson for the organization. He was assassinated on February 21, 1965 while making a speech in Harlem. After his death, his life story was made well-known through his autobiography, The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1965) (Mamiya 1). Malcolm X is a man whose background and activism contributed to the Civil Rights Movement and America as a whole.

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Summary of "Learning to Read" by Malcolm X In his essay "Learning to Read" from the chapter "Saved" in Malcolm's Autobiography published in New York (Grove Press, 1965). Malcolm was born in Omaha, Nebraska and his father was a political activist on behalf of Marcus Garvey. After he and his family moved to East Lansing, Michigan, where his father was killed and his mother placed in a mental institution. he became an orphan and ended up on the streets of Detroit where he was known as "Detroit Red".

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