Literacy is something that the majority of people take for granted. Most everyone who will read this was probably brought up through some sort of schooling system. Allowing them unlimited access to resources and tools that would eventually lead to their literacy. But what happens when you might not have access to things like that? Sherman Alexie and Malcom X, are just two of many that didn’t. However, they key their success in literacy to many different things including some sort of sponsorship. For Sherman Alexie, growing up on an eastern Washington Indian reservation, he wasn’t given any opportunity to develop his literacy. In his Native American community, it was out of the social norm to develop literary skills. However, Alexie did not
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Growing up in an era where racial tensions were high. X and many other African-Americans were forced to learn how to read and write on their own. Over the years, Malcom had a wide variety of influences/sponsors that helped him develop literary skills. One of which was a fellow Charlestown prisoner, Bimbi. Malcom quickly became envious of Bimbi due to his extensive knowledge. This motivated him to be like Bimbi, so Malcom grabbed a dictionary and started learning how to read and comprehend. Another big influence on Malcom X in learning how to read, was Elijah Muhammad. Malcom had always written letters to Muhammad but was never truly able to express what he wanted to say due to his lack of literary knowledge. In Muhammad’s teachings, he would often express how the white culture had taken over history. “When white men had written history books, the black man simply had been left out” (X 3). This statement really spoke to Malcom, as he remembered back to his schooling days when the black history had been completely covered in just one paragraph. Muhammad sponsored Malcom with his influential teachings. X soon took to the library to find out all he could about black history. By doing this, Malcom was exposed to all sorts of novels, even a series of novels he thought was so good that he bought them, and gave them to his kids for them to read. Malcom eventually learned nearly everything there was to know about the white man during that time period. This made him into the leader he was in the quest for racial freedom. Who knows, without Bimbi or Muhammad inspiring Malcom to become one of the greatest, most influential people to ever live, things may still be the same today as they were back then all because of the lack of literary knowledge. Although we take it for granted every single day of our lives, literacy is the basis to your function as a human on this planet. Without it you would
Growing up in an era where racial tensions were high. X and many other African-Americans were forced to learn how to read and write on their own. Over the years, Malcom had a wide variety of influences/sponsors that helped him develop literary skills. One of which was a fellow Charlestown prisoner, Bimbi. Malcom quickly became envious of Bimbi due to his extensive knowledge. This motivated him to be like Bimbi, so Malcom grabbed a dictionary and started learning how to read and comprehend. Another big influence on Malcom X in learning how to read, was Elijah Muhammad. Malcom had always written letters to Muhammad but was never truly able to express what he wanted to say due to his lack of literary knowledge. In Muhammad’s teachings, he would often express how the white culture had taken over history. “When white men had written history books, the black man simply had been left out” (X 3). This statement really spoke to Malcom, as he remembered back to his schooling days when the black history had been completely covered in just one paragraph. Muhammad sponsored Malcom with his influential teachings. X soon took to the library to find out all he could about black history. By doing this, Malcom was exposed to all sorts of novels, even a series of novels he thought was so good that he bought them, and gave them to his kids for them to read. Malcom eventually learned nearly everything there was to know about the white man during that time period. This made him into the leader he was in the quest for racial freedom. Who knows, without Bimbi or Muhammad inspiring Malcom to become one of the greatest, most influential people to ever live, things may still be the same today as they were back then all because of the lack of literary knowledge. Although we take it for granted every single day of our lives, literacy is the basis to your function as a human on this planet. Without it you would