Summary Of Malcolm X's Literacy Behind Bar

Improved Essays
The article named, “Literacy Behind Bars” wrote by Malcolm X, a black nationalist leader. He told and used his own story experience on his own literacy. According to Malcolm X, “As I see it today, the ability to read awoke inside me some long dormant craving to be mentally alive.” That means in order to fighting for his race as Black, then he should able to read and write first. He started to achieve those by spend fifteen hours per day for reading, even when the “light out”, then he still continues reading by sitting on the floor and following a glow from a corridor light out side his door. Malcolm passion were not only stop by that, he used a dictionary to copy and study word by word, instead of skipping over words which he din’t know in

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    In Malcolm X’s autobiographic narrative, “Learning to Read” written in 1965, an African American Civil Rights leader, X illustrates his passion towards knowledge and claims his disapproval of discrimination. Through his lucid anecdotal reflections on early illiteracy, followed by an abundance of historical evidence, X builds juxtaposition that associates worldwide racism together, along with an inductive argument that discloses paradox in society. By informing the readers of existing fabrication of history, this narrative ponders a thoughtful subject on racism in order to encourage the audience to listen and engage in the campaign against discrimination. Interlacing between a moderate tone and inflammatory voice, X’s essay speaks to and for…

    • 135 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The audience can imagine him sitting there, looking at a book, and then typing up every little thing into his tablet. This helps us be able to picture what Malcolm did while he was locked up. Malcolm X even describes to his readers some of the words and pictures he seen in his dictionaries. He recalls a “funny thing” in paragraph seven, one of the pages of a dictionary he had reminded him of the “long-tailed, long-eared, burrowing African mammal”. Not only can visualizing this “funny thing” be easier in this article but it lets the audience earn things about their author.…

    • 1145 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    James McBride, Wes Moore, Richard Wright, Brent Staples, and Gwendolyn Brooks have learned the importance of literacy first hand. In fact, literacy and those who have influenced the literacy of each man have allowed each to author his own destiny by opening his eyes to a larger world, creating a sense of faith, and often saving his life. In many cases, literacy can help open one’s eyes to a larger world or array of experiences, which would not have been otherwise available; through reading, one not only learns valuable information, but also encounters different times, places, cultures, and privileges and in a way, experiences different lives. One author, Richard Wright writes in his book, Black Boy, about how literacy helps him understand…

    • 915 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Malcolm X decided to take charge of the situation by learning more words. He did so by copying a dictionary verbatim page by page until he had copied the entire dictionary. Malcolm X explains: “… as my word-base broadened… [I] now begin to understand what the book was saying” (242). Malcolm X ’s word knowledge allowed him to understand more words; thus, he was able to comprehend entire books and their…

    • 898 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Malcolm X's Early Life

    • 123 Words
    • 1 Pages

    In the box below, write a short summary of Malcolm X's early life, while also detailing how he became a civil rights activist. Make sure to have 5-7 complete sentences and correct grammatical conventions. Malcolm X was born on May 19, 1925 in Omaha Nebraska. When he was a child his father was a baptist minister and his mother stayed home and took care of him and his siblings. When Malcolm was young his father was killed in a streetcar accident.…

    • 123 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Malcolm X was a nationalist leader who was the son of a outspoken baptist minister. He later grew up to be a charismatic spokesman for the Nation of Islam. During his early life, his father being a supportive civil rights leader, was targeted by most whites. The result of this led to having to frequently move and eventually their house, in 1929, was burned down in Michigan. Two years later after this incident Earl, Malcolm's father, was found dead.…

    • 362 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Malcolm x was a civil rights activist who fought for equality. He faced several obstacles during his journey of fighting for black power. Malcolm x's family were forced to move north after Malcolm and his father fought back against persecution and racism. They had no choice since white had more power. Malcolm had a hard time fulfilling his dream after his father's death.…

    • 81 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Malcolm finds himself as being looked at as the average black man with no way of wanting to learn, or in shorter terms, stereotyped because of the harsh times he had been living in. In fact, he states “the average hustler and criminal was too uneducated to write a letter,” this must mean that people looked at his culture as the average hustler but as himself, he tries to stop the stereotype from leading to…

    • 1359 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    As for Malcolm X, he started his “Homemade Education,” (142) by copying the dictionary word for word. While doing so, he learned a little bit about history and improved his penmanship (Malcolm X, 144). This helped time go by fast while Malcom X was in prison and his vocabulary broadened. Baca had taught himself how to read and write while in prison. It was difficult for him to get the materials he needed so he had to steal a book or two from the guards.…

    • 1375 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The Legacy Of Malcolm X

    • 211 Words
    • 1 Pages

    Malcolm X was born in 1925 as Malcolm Little; his father was killed in a car accident in 1931 and his mother was institutionalized after becoming mentally unstable; due to these tragic events, Malcolm and his siblings were separated and went through different foster families. He learned how to steal and fell into a wrong crowd full of trouble: he learned to trade, which would result in him going to jail, and was surrounded by gamblers and thieves. While in jail, he was familiarized with Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam; his faith became important to him and encouraged him to believe that his families upbringing had to do at the hands of the whites. Once Malcolm left prison in 1952, he instantly went to for Elijah Muhammad became an assistant manager at his…

    • 211 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A vehement opposition to the rampant racism present in the United States, Malcolm X was labeled anything from a demagogue racist to one of the greatest civil rights leaders in United States history. He was a constant force in fighting inequalities, and had been subjected to different kinds of inequalities his entire life. Yet one aspect that is often overlooked of Malcolm X, and is crucially important to understanding his leadership and beliefs, is his attitudes towards woman. Throughout his life, Malcolm goes through multiple levels towards which he views woman. Yet through each of these levels, he reveals hints of sexism if not outright mysoginism.…

    • 533 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Rhetorical Analysis Of Malcolm X

    • 1207 Words
    • 5 Pages
    • 1 Works Cited

    He used a lot of violence to try and get the African Americans equal rights. The tactics that Malcolm liked to use to get his point across was starting riots and giving very intense speeches promoting violent behavior to stop racism. He would say in his speeches that the violence that they used in the riots was just self-defense against the white man. He would refer to the American constitution, saying that every American has the right to bear arms. He would also say that they should not have to give up their rights just for being another color.…

    • 1207 Words
    • 5 Pages
    • 1 Works Cited
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Fight for Freedom “It is criminal to teach a man not to defend himself when he is the constant victim of brutal attacks.” (Finlayson 68) This is one of Malcolm X’s most famous quotes. Malcolm X was born on May 19, 1925. He was the son of a man that was killed by the KKK (Biography.com Editors, Bio).…

    • 530 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The article "A Homemade Education" by Malcolm X was about how he taught himself how to read and write while being incarcerated. While he was in prison, he would write letter to Mr. Elijah Muhammad, the founder of the Muslim sect Nation of Islam. While writing those letters to Mr. Elijah Muhammad Malcolm realized how bad his knowledge was. Being at the Charlestown Prison led him to meeting Bimbi. When Malcolm met Bimbi he was jealous of him, the jealousy towards Bimbi came from the knowledge he had.…

    • 905 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Unable, to write or read Malcolm began to rewrite the dictionary and read it back to himself. He learned every word in the dictionary broaden his vocabulary. However, as he continued on with his studies, Malcolm gained knowledge about his people and the hardship that they faced for many years. This new founded knowledge and information lead his dislike in the white American. It, also, became an eye opener for him.…

    • 787 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays