Malcolm X Autobiography

A detailed Summary of Malcolm X Autobiography

Malcolm X, born Malcolm Little in Omaha, Nebraska, had good reason to distrust whites. His father Earl had been active in the black nationalist movement. His death was clearly a murder, but the insurance company insisted it was a suicide, denying his family the insurance money. Malcolm's mother had to accept welfare, and Malcolm began stealing food from stores. Social workers eventually sent his mother Louise to a mental hospital. The children were split up, and Malcolm and most of his siblings were placed in foster homes. Malcolm blamed the state welfare department for causing his mother's mental illness. Both the whites who hated them and the whites who tried to help them participated in breaking up the Little family.

In his new foster home, Malcolm enrolled as the only black child in an otherwise white junior high. He had the highest grades in his class and was even elected class president, but Malcolm felt that he was viewed as a quaint oddity--a mascot in his foster home (p. 27) and a "pink poodle" at school (p. 32)--something interesting but of the wrong color. In spite of his outstanding grades, when he confided in a teacher that he wanted to become a lawyer, the teacher responded, "Don't misunderstand me, now. We all her

It is clear that Malcolm X represented a threat, and not just to the status quo, because he was killed by an opposing Nation of Islam faction. It was said of him that he was "America's only Negro who 'could stop a race riot-or start one.'" These were scary words in a country undergoing major changes in race relations. People who try to change society threaten the status quo, and Malcolm X did so eloquently. One has to wonder if someone else wouldn't have killed him eventually, just as Martin Luther King was assassinated.

It is hard to predict what effect Malcolm X would have had on American society had he lived longer. It seems likely, however, that as mainstream America grew in understanding about just how racist the United States had been, that his message would have come to be better understood. Malcolm X was important to blacks as segregation ended because he had a different message than the main one America was hearing, and his message was as valid and as true as anyone else's. While it was true that segregation in bus stations and restaurants was ugly and indefensible, Malcolm X had seen his childhood home burned, his father murdered, and his family cheated by an insurance company in a move that led to the total destruction of his family. He knew more was involved than lunch counters and buses. At the same time, however, he was evolving, encouraging blacks to solve their own problems and not rely on the government or others i

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 972
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: People