Life and Struggles of Malcolm X – a Combative Civil Rights Activist

Introduction

This paper is focused on Malcolm X, a man who stands against the regular and normal civil rights act. Malcolm X was an activist who fought for people of color. In the US, people of color were restricted and isolated by the Jim Crow Laws, which were created to enforce the segregation of dark-skinned races from white people. The dark-skinned race did not have the same or nearly close rights as the Caucasians of this generation. Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little on May 19, 1925, in Omaha, Nebraska, and he was assassinated on February 21, 1965. In US history, Malcolm X was recognized as a controversial and combative black civil rights advocate (Haley, 1965).

Early Life and Challenges

When Malcolm was younger, his family had to move multiple times because of racism. They moved from Omaha, Nebraska, after being threatened by the Ku Klux Klan, an organization that believed whites were superior to all other races. Their house was burned down while they were living in a white neighborhood in Michigan. His father was murdered when he was six years old, and three of his four uncles were also killed by racist white people. These early experiences shaped his views on race and injustice. Things were hard for him and his family. At the age of twenty, he was sentenced to ten years in prison for theft. While in prison, he found a new religion, Islam. After his release, he changed his name to X and became the voice for the Nation of Islam (Marable, 2011).

Activism and Ideology

During his time with the Nation of Islam, a movement was underway to bring people together peacefully. However, Malcolm and his community were advocating for racial division. His belief was that racial division was the unique way to strengthen and improve the lives of black people in the US. He argued that only whites controlled the entire society and country. Hence, he encouraged blacks to have their own systems, such as their own economy, community, and society. Malcolm X knew he wasn’t the only activist; there were other black American civil rights activists, like Martin Luther King Jr., who fought for equality in a peaceful way. However, Malcolm’s approach was different because he believed that if blacks wanted equal rights, they had to fight against the Caucasians (Dyson, 1996).

Transformation and Realization

Malcolm taught his followers that Caucasians were the oppressors who indoctrinated blacks. He initially refused to believe that whites and blacks could coexist peacefully in the same country. He distanced himself from peaceful civil rights acts, believing that battling against the whites was the only way to help people of color in the United States. But later, his views on racial division changed due to his life experiences and teachings in the Nation of Islam. He realized that Caucasians and people of color could live together in peace. During his pilgrimage to Mecca, he experienced a world where no one discriminated against him. Malcolm drank the same water, ate the same food, and slept alongside whites and people of color (X, 1965).

Conclusion

Jim Crow Laws were biased laws that promoted white supremacy and discriminated against blacks. People of color faced discrimination in most public places, such as restaurants and restrooms. Malcolm X’s early life encounters, including the impact of his school experiences, his father’s influence, and his time in prison, led him to become the person he was. His father, who always spoke out against racism in the US, shaped Malcolm’s views on race. Moving to Boston changed his lifestyle and outlook. His early life experiences led him to become a combative civil rights activist during his lifetime (Perry, 1991).

References

• Dyson, M. E. (1996). Making Malcolm: The Myth and Meaning of Malcolm X. Oxford University Press.
• Haley, A. (1965). The Autobiography of Malcolm X. Ballantine Books.
• Marable, M. (2011). Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention. Viking.
• Perry, B. (1991). Malcolm: The Life of a Man Who Changed Black America. Station Hill Press.
• X, M. (1965). Malcolm X Speaks: Selected Speeches and Statements. Grove Press.