The Autobiography of Malcolm X was published after Malcolm X’s death in 1965. It is said that this posthumous publication managed to change the public’s opinion of Malcolm X as of a violent activist. The Autobiography shows Malcolm X from the other perspective, viz. as a person capable of self-criticism as well as the one who had a long hard way to self-improvement and spiritual growth.
In general, Malcolm X’s route to being an educated person was a complicated one with many obstacles on the way. He did go to school, but quit it when he was fifteen since he had got disappointed in the prospects his teachers promised to him because of his race. His next school was the street and night clubs followed by prison with its library full of books. His spiritual development as a black nationalist got its peak when he joined the Nation of Islam and became its leading spokesman. However, with years he understood the mendacity of the Nation of Islam’s leader and broke with the organization. After that, Malcolm X underwent almost complete transformation as a result of a journey through the Middle East and North Africa. These facts from the biography show that Malcolm X’s intellectual and spiritual core is based on this leader’s own life experience as well as the experience of others learnt by him through books he read and through communication with people during his nationalist activity and journeys.
In The Autobiography Malcolm X admits that the development of his political ideology started within the family as his father was a Baptist minister and a black activist pursued for years and, eventually, murdered by Klan. Special attention in The Autobiography is paid to the role of Malcolm X’s mother. Along with the father, she played a significant part in her children’s cultural, social, and intellectual education. She tried to nurture the pride in their race and ancestral power, even in the hardest times. Malcolm X says: “Pride was just about all we had to preserve, for by 1934, we really began to suffer” (Malcolm X and Haley). Definitely, without such background seeded as early as in childhood and even before his birth, when his pregnant mother was beaten by Ku Klux Klan members, Malcolm X could never have become the kind of person and activist he was.
Pride was definitely the basis of their family because losing the pride meant to Malcolm X losing his family’s spirit. He writes that as soon as they, or he personally, stopped feeling like valuing pride as much as they had, there seemed to be something wrong with the family in general: “some kind of psychological deterioration hit our family circle and began to eat away our pride” (Malcolm X and Haley). However, whatever happened then, his pride was still there and drove him throughout his life. When he was living in Michigan detention house and was considered to be the best pupil in class, where he was the only black one, his pride made him change his life most radically. Once his English teacher, Mr. Ostrowski, commented negatively concerning Malcolm’s preferences for his future career saying that the boy would better stop thinking about becoming a lawyer and consider a profession of a carpenter instead. That affected Malcolm’s further life and behavior with all those white people in town. He could not understand why they did not believe in him. He says in The Autobiography: “whatever I wasn't, I _was_ smarter than nearly all of those white kids. But apparently I was still not intelligent enough, in their eyes, to become whatever _I_ wanted to be” (Malcolm X and Haley). All in all, he had to leave the place and move to Boston to live with his sister. Malcolm X admits that the episode with the teacher was the most significant in making him become who he was: “no physical move in my life has been more pivotal or profound in its repercussions” (Malcolm X and Haley). He never attended any school since then. All his further education was acquired in the streets of Boston and prison, through his nationalist activity and books he read.
All the following years of negative experience were another kind of school for Malcolm X. He met different people who enlarged his knowledge of the world, even if that world was a criminal one. Thus, for example, some episodes in The Autobiography relate about Malcolm’s acquaintance with Bimbi, Malcolm’s fellow inmate. Bimbi is said to have shaped Malcolm’s understanding of religion: “Bimbi put the atheist philosophy in a framework, so to speak” (Malcolm X and Haley). It changed Malcolm’s attitude as well as his behavior. Besides, that man pointed out to Malcolm that he should get advantage of his brains and improve himself. Bimbi advised Malcolm to use library resources and take correspondence courses. As Bimbi was a man of authority to Malcolm then, he followed the advice. That was the period when Malcolm X renewed his education experience. He had time and he had a desire to improve himself; so, he started. In a year, he was already able to write letters decently, but he did not stop at it. When Malcolm X was transferred to another colony – Norfolk Prison Colony, he got a large library at his disposal since then. Books were a great resource, but it also took him time to learn how to use them. He writes about this experience: “I read aimlessly, until I learned to read selectively, with a purpose” (Malcolm X and Haley). Thus, it is clear that by that time Malcolm X was already able to guide himself in his learning without anybody’s assistance. As a result, when time came for him to leave prison, he was a completely different person.
There were other instances in Malcolm X’s life which promoted his learning experience as well as other people who influenced him as much as change something in his life or his way of thinking. But summarizing it all, it can be said that the basis of Malcolm X’s education was life itself supported by his desire to learn more, improve himself, and be a decent representative of his race.
Works Cited
Malcolm X and Haley, Alex. The Autobiography of Malcolm X. Web. 4 Feb. 2016. <http://al-rasid.com/shared_uploads/The.Autobiography.of.MalcolmX.pdf>
