Preview

How Did Malcolm X's Life Influenced As A Civil Rights Leader?

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
2021 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
How Did Malcolm X's Life Influenced As A Civil Rights Leader?
How did Malcolm X’s early experiences in life influence his approach as a Civil Rights leader?
3 Comments * * MHS Student 
on August 15, 2012

Reply

Christian Alex Amezquita- Malcolm X has had a lot of events happen early in his life that has affected/shaped him throughout his entire life. For example, there was that time when the welfare workers came to Malcolm's house to split up his family and send his mom to an insane asylum (Kalamazoo). In addition, Malcolm was put with a white family whom treated him like an over glorified dog. He never could feel as if he was one of them, but always felt that he was beneath them. Furthermore, Malcolm's teacher telling him that he could not become a lawyer because of his color really had an impact on him. All of these events gave Malcolm a good reason to become a Civil Rights leader. These events where the wood to his fire and Elijah Muhammad was his flint and steel.
…show more content…
Malcolm’s mom was part white, so Malcolm was born the lightest of all the children and experienced discrimination within his family. His father was brainwashed to think that anything closer to being white was better, so he treated Malcolm the best while his mother, hated the fact that she had “white rapist blood” in her and treated Malcolm the worst, because he was a constant reminder of it. When he moved to Boston, he saw all around him, a bunch of brainwashed black people. “They prided themselves on being incomparably more “cultured,” “cultivated,” “dignified,” and better off than their black brethren down in the ghetto, which was no further away then you could throw a rock” (Haley 42). Malcolm had very strong opinions about white people and black people, and liked to spread what he believed in which made him fit to be a Civil Rights leader. -Pearl

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    How did Malcolm’s own personal views change and evolve? Malcolm X’s personal views changed over time because of the certain things that other races did and didn’t do, to the point of him wanting complete separation from them. Malcolm used to want to be involved with whites a lot to try and get closer to their population, but during that time after he went to prison he learned some things that changed the way he thought completely. Some of the things he learned were primarily due to the dictionary and the things that it said about the words that had black in them, every time that the word black was brought up it was always defined as criminal and slave. After Malcolm had learned these specific details, he had started preaching black empowerment…

    • 437 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Malcolm x and Martin Luther King Jr. are both powerful leaders. Malcolm X believed in violence and Martin Luther King believed in nonviolence. These two leader shared belief and hopes but they also had their differences. Malcolm X was born in Omaha, Nebraska on May 19, 1925. Malcolm did not believe in nonviolence or advocate integration. (Harold 610) He attracted black people’s attention and was eloquent, passionate, and a courageously out spoken champion of black people and a critic of American racism.…

    • 562 Words
    • 17 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Malcolm showed a lot of character to push away his hatred of the white people and realize that people need to be one in the community. This transformation is the one that impacted the life people live today. Malcolm had a lot of respect from those who believed in what he was preaching. He was a man who knew what he wanted and was going to change the way things were. Malcolm did not have the odds to make something of himself. He overcame those odds and became one of the most inspiring and important people in the struggle for equality. Malcolm turned his life around for the better and left a huge impact to those around him. Malcolm (Little) X is one of the people who made the biggest influence on the 20th Century. People came a long way…

    • 170 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Civil rights activist Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little, but Malcolm changed his name because he felt that his last name had been imposed on his family by a slave holder. When Malcolm was young, his family suffered greatly at the hands of white supremacists. His family’s home was burned down, and his father was probably murdered in retaliation for speaking out for African American rights. However, the police called both events accidents. Malcolm joined a controversial group devoted to securing rights for African Americans, called the Nation of Islam. He became a national spokesman for the group but left it after he became disillusioned with its leadership. Malcolm started his own organization and soon became frustrated at the civil rights movement’s…

    • 153 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Malcolm wanted a true, violent revolution.He felt that blacks were unwanted in America so they should leave and form their own nation like many other revolutions going on in the world at that time. ④ He felt there was a distinct difference between his movement and the Civil rights movement. Those in Civil rights were “house negroes” in the Negro Revolution and those under his own wing were the “field negroes” of the black movement.④ When there were slaves, some worked in the house, close to the master, and they came to love their master who fed them his dinner scraps; on the other hand, there were those out in the field who hated their master because they were beaten and got nothing but guts to eat. The Civil rights want to stay with their masters, the white man, while the black revolution knew he needed to break away, because he dare not say “our government” but rather “the government”; they had no part in it. ④ He believed a revolution was not a true revolution without bloodshed. He felt they needed to fight to gain their rights. ④ Later, X seems to become more content with staying in America. He decides that anyone who helps is good to the project; he said he was not anti-white but rather anti-exploitation, anti-degradation, and anti-oppression. No matter what, however, if faced with violence, he will return the favor. He even felt integrating schools was important to keep children from being taught the horrible ways of the day.…

    • 1550 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Malcolm X was a man who changed the lives of the African Americans, especially in Harlem. During his time of living, Malcolm X fought, worked, and struggled to help make Harlem a better place for the Afro-Americans at a young age. He was a big influencer to the African American world, but he was assassinated, but little did he know he would leave his legacy with Harlem to, later on, spread to the world. Of course, there were some who had some negative things to say about Malcolm X, but the ones who really got to know him begged to differ because they knew how much he impacted the African American community. Malcolm X used his strong words to an advantage to lift the weak and weary.…

    • 198 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    When Malcom attended school. he was asked what he wanted to be. He replied that he wished to be a lawyer, but the teacher said, considering his race, to think realistically. This incident was the turning point of Malcom’s life and influenced his future actions. From that point forward Malcolm felt like the class pet rather than a student. Feeling this way, he dropped out of school and moved to Boston to like with his sister. Although when Malcolm moved to Boston, he was arrested due to theft, and was forced to take a light sentence. While in prison, he joined the Nation of Islam and devoured books in order to make up for the education he lost out on. When he left prison, Malcolm had brewed a strong hatred for the white race and their oppressing powers. Subsequently, when Malcolm X decided that the hour of liberation had arrived for his oppressed brothers, he was determined to show them how deceitful, rotten, and disrespectful the white race…

    • 2088 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Back in the 1960s, Malcolm X was an influential public speaker. He protested for equal rights of African Americans. At that time, in the United States, African Americans did not have the same rights as white people. He had a rough upbringing; he was born into a large family and had eight siblings. By the time he was twelve years old, his mother had been sent to a mental hospital, and his father had been killed after being hit by a car. He then spent the rest of his childhood in foster homes. In 1946 he was then arrested for stealing and was sent to prison. This is believed to be a significant motive for making his speeches.…

    • 520 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Malcolm was a black muslim as well as a black nationalist under the guidance of Elijah Muhammad, founder of the Nation of Islam which combined elements from both Black Nationalism and Islam, together they sought out to once again resegregate white and black people and create a separate nation from Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi, this nation would then solely inhabit black people. Malcolm X used the current civil rights movement to fuel his campaign and recruit followers, he spoke at several accredited universities Harvard and Oxford being among them. Malcolm was driven by two things will power and belief, his belief in not only the Islamic teachings but also his belief in the superiority of black people, he used his will power to gather…

    • 135 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Being born and raised as an African American at the time, racial inequalities and slavery was common. Malcolm X’s family was quickly divided at a young age. Malcolm lost his track of education and learned more…

    • 825 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Malcolm X is an African American who dropped out of school and had little education,yet, he changed his life. He grew up as a hustler with a lack of reading and writing skills, he quotes “I picked up a book had a few sentences…I just skipped those words. Of course, I had no idea of what the book actually said.” (123) He had little capability of reading and understanding the book. He went to jail for burglary and that is where he changed his life. He practiced reading and writing by himself and became an ace speaker and writer once he got released from prison. He…

    • 508 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Why Was Malcolm X Unjust

    • 557 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Malcolm was a strong believer of self defense . He was known for causing violent protest and many ridiculed him for his past which was full of crime. Malcolm told his followers that they needed to defend themselves to the fullest by any means necessary. When asked about the issue he said "It is criminal to teach a man not to defend himself, when he is the constant victim of brutal attacks. It is legal and lawful to own a shotgun or a rifle. We believe in obeying the law." Malcolm X was taught by his Muslim leader that beloved that the white man was the devil . However after going on a trip to Mecca he was enlightened and saw that the blacks and whites there loved each other and tested each other like they were of the same color. He later returned to the US with a changed heart and went about creating peace with…

    • 557 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Born Malcolm Little in Omaha, Nebraska on May 19, 1925, Malcolm’s family received threats from the Klu Klux Klan and police because of his father’s support of the Black civil rights. The family moved to Michigan (the state that I was born in), to get away from the threats to their lives. The move couldn’t protect them from people who hated them. Their house was burned down and the fire department would not help.…

    • 597 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Malcolm X Contribution

    • 1500 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Malcolm X, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. reached high points in their life, with some help from family members and mentors who gave them courage for what they accomplished. When Malcolm X was in prison, for dealing drugs and stealing he went totally downhill, while he was in prison he learned a lot from his inmate. He taught him to like books, Malcolm checked out every book from the prison library he could. “Malcolm was young and uneducated when he was sent to prison in 1946. Six years later, he left prison an educated, articulate man with many ideas.” (Malcolm X Biography) Malcolm Improved greatly after…

    • 1500 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    He wanted all blacks to have the same exact rights as the whites. Malcolm did not want anyone to be treated differently or to be disrespected just because of their skin color. He even said himself ‘ I believe in human beings, and that all human beings should be respected as such, regardless of their color.”…

    • 524 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays