Malcolm X Case
Essay by jfizzle • November 19, 2012 • Essay • 1,028 Words (5 Pages) • 1,381 Views
"A man who stands for nothing will fall for anything", said by my biggest influence Hajj Malik El Shabazz, Also known as Malcolm X. On May 19th, 1925 Louise Little gave birth to her fourth child, but Little did she know, she was giving birth to one of the most controversial and most influential people of our time. Malcolm was born in Omaha, Nebraska where his father was a preacher and a supporter of Marcus Garvey (A Black Nationalist leader), and because of that Malcolm and his family would continually be harassed by the Ku Klux Clan. When Malcolm was four local KKK members smashed all the windows around the little residence putting the family in danger. That greatly influenced Earl Littles movement out to East Lansing, Michigan. After moving out to East Lansing the family quickly realized racism wasn't any softer there, in fact it proved to be even greater than Omaha. Very shortly after the move from Omaha to East Lansing a mob set their house on fire and the police and firemen stood there and watched, refusing to put the fire down. Two years after that incident, Earl Little was found dead and it was labeled a suicide, therefore denying the family to the large life insurance collection his family should have expected. Louis lost her mind and was instated into a mental hospital, forcing Malcolm to leave home and live with family friends. In my eyes Malcolm was Lost, Perseverant, and respected.
First part of Malcolm's life took an even deeper turn when he was in middle school. Malcolm attended West Junior High and he was the schools only black student. He excelled in school and one day his English teacher asked him what he wants to be and Malcolm responded by telling her he wants to be a lawyer, and he she responded with, "One of life's first need is for us to be realistic... you need to think of something you can be... why don't you plan on carpentry". Malcolm dropped out school the next year at the age of 15. After dropping out of school Malcolm went to live with his sister Ella. Malcolm worked a few different jobs but mainly started drug dealing and committing robberies. Malcolm was later sentenced to ten years in jail for charges of larceny. Malcolm going to jail was definitely the best thing for him. He was able to get his life together in jail. he was transferred to another jail which had a big library and Malcolm took full advantage of it and read everything in his way. Prison made him more knowledgeable; it shaped him up, and got his life back together. If it wasn't for him going to jail, we would have never seen the history of Malcolm X and who knows how civil rights would have shaped up.
the second part of Malcolm life was his rise to prominence.Malcolm Shows Persistence because While in jail he was visited by a few siblings who were in the nation of Islam and they introduced him to it. Later he was contacted by Elijah Mohammed and eventually converted to nation of Islam in prison. After leaving prison he moved out to Detroit to work with Elijah Mohammad, and then became leader of 3 different temples. Malcolm was a truly gifted Orator. He preached a more militant type of activism compared to Martin Luther King's peaceful type of activism. Nonetheless he was able to move and capture so much attention he had the FBI surveying him. Thanks Malcolm the Nation of Islam grew from 400 members to a huge 40,000 members. A few years later he heard rumors of Elijah Mohammad having
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