When faced with oppression and cruel circumstances, how does one learn how to read or write? More specifically, how did Frederick Douglass and Malcolm X teach themselves how to read (and write)? Can their methods be compared? In their essays, “Learning How to Read and Write” and “Learning to Read”, Douglass and Malcolm X discuss the methods they employed to teach themselves how to read, as well as their results. Upon considering the environments surrounding both Douglass and Malcolm X, one could notice that Malcolm X’s situation is watered down compared to Douglass’s. Douglass did not have any access to books of any kind and had to go through the immense trouble to teach himself how to read and write. On the other hand, Malcolm X had ready
