This term paper is going to deal with the ideology Malcolm X developed throughout his life, with a special focus on his religion, his opinion on racial segregation and his identification with the United States.
3.Ideology during the Civil Rights Movement
3.1 The Role of Religion and Racial Segregation
3.2.National Identity
4.Conclusion
Works Cited
1.Introduction
In the middle of the 20th century, the United States and its citizens were facing a critical situation. Even though the Civil War had officially abolished slavery in 1865 under the regency of Abraham Lincoln, the reality still looked different. Despite the 14th and 15th Amendments, which were to grant blacks equal protection under the law just as the right to vote in 1868 and 1870, people of colour were struggling to reach equality in terms of education, proper housing and employment, which limited their opportunities in life. Therefore, a great amount of black people was still unsatisfied with the law system and the lack of equality.
Consequently, the civil rights movement emerged in the 1950s and brought up Martin Luther King and Malcolm X as its most popular representors. Both of them followed the goal to achieve equality among blacks and whites. Even though they both brought hope to blacks living in the United States, however, the techniques they used to achieve their mutual goal could not have been any more different. Whilst Martin Luther King Jr. encouraged the nonviolent way of fighting for black people’s rights, Malcolm X did not reject the use of violence.
Therefore, they are often referred to as opponents, whereas Malcolm X is usually viewed as the antagonist. So even though Malcolm X has been recognised as one of the most influential and most powerful fighters for the rights of African Americans in the United States, his beliefs and strategies were harshly criticised by both black and white Americans.
To make clear why Malcolm X thought and acted the way he did, the paper will start to point out the most important facts of his early life, which had a major influence on the role he played during the civil rights movement. The aim of this paper will be to analyse the ideology that Malcolm X followed throughout the civil rights movement in the United States in order to understand why he was a controversial personality.
Therefore, this term paper is going to deal with the ideology Malcolm X developed throughout his life, with a special focus on his religion, his opinion on racial segregation and his identification with the United States.
2.The Early Life of Malcolm X
Hearing the name “Malcolm X”, one might immediately think of the civil rights movement that took place in America in the middle of the 20th century. However, most of the time this name is not connected with the positive effects that Malcolm X has had on the black society of America but rather with his violent and radical way of fighting. Therefore, Malcolm X is often viewed as the antagonist of Martin Luther King Jr., who is still known nowadays for his remarkable speech titled “I Have a Dream”.
In order to be able to comprehend the way Malcolm X acted during the civil rights movement, it is important to have some background knowledge about his early life since Malcolm X had to overcome many obstacles during his adolescence, which would have a great impact on the ideology he represented during the civil rights movement.
The future civil rights leader Malcolm X was born under the name Malcolm Little on May 19, 1925, as the son of the housemaker Louise Little and the Baptist preacher Earl Little (Haley 79). He spent most of his childhood in Omaha, Nebraska. When he was a child, it was rather confusing for Malcolm X that his father did not beat him as often as his mother did. The reason for this was, as he assumes, that he was the whitest of all the children. In his autobiography he writes: “It came directly from the slavery tradition that the ‘mulatto’, because he was visibly nearer to white, was therefore ‘better’” (Haley 83). As his parents had seemingly already adopted the view of society, namely that white people were superior to blacks, they therefore treated their lightest child differently. Consequently, Malcolm X was already raised in a way that showed him how white people got to live an easier life.
Also, some of the character traits, which would be typical for Malcolm X during the civil rights movement, were developed by him at an early stage of his life. Already as a child Malcolm X for example learned “that if you want something, you had better make some noise” (Haley 87).
So he already understood at a young age that it was necessary to speak up if he was not satisfied with a situation, which he certainly did during the civil rights movement.
Also, he soon understood that success is always connected with smart thinking and constant improvement since it is the only way to stay ahead. After having practised shooting with a gun together with some adults, he wrote:
They outdid themselves exclaiming what a sure shot I was. I was about twelve, then. All I had done was to improve on their strategy, and it was the beginning of a very important lesson in life – that anytime you find someone more successful than you are, especially when you’re both engaged in the same business – you know they’re doing something that you aren’t (Haley 100).
Later, however, the family was forced to move to Mason, Michigan, because the Ku Klux Klan did not accept black people and Earl Little’s sermons in their territory. Nevertheless, white extremists still terrorised the Littles by trying to burn their house down and by murdering the family father, which would later officially be labelled a suicide. Louise now had to care for the eight children on her own, which she could not handle as she had been mentally instable since her husband’s death. Consequently, she was placed in a mental institution and the children grew up in foster families, however, the siblings still managed to keep their close relationship and met up on a frequent basis.
During his youth, Malcolm X often experienced that whites seemed a lot less restricted than black people since they “seemed less restricted in their dietary tastes” (Haley 93). So while Malcolm X and his family had to live a life at the limit, white people had everything they needed to live a good life and more. His anger at them therefore gradually increased because it made him realise how easy his life could be if he had been white. This added up to his already existing image of white people as the oppressors of the black American society.
When he was a teenager, Malcolm X was about to start a boxing career, however, this was taken from him by a white who knocked him out during a fight. Malcolm X considers this white boy the trigger of the end of the career he had always dreamed of as he writes: “That white boy was the beginning and the end of my fight career.” (Haley 104).
Moreover, his white eighth-grade English teacher left his marks on Malcolm X. When he told his teacher that he wanted to be a lawyer, he replied: “[…] you’ve got to be realistic about being a nigger” (Haley 118). Since he ranked among the top students of his class, Malcolm X could not comprehend why his teacher did not believe in him just because of his skin colour. As a consequence of this incident, Malcolm X quit school in order to move to Boston to live with his half-sister Ella. Nevertheless, he did not resign education but educated himself during the time he spent in prison.
So even though higher instances often tried to bring him and his dreams and aspirations down to earth, he never gave up on accomplishing his dreams and continuously fought for his rights.
Also, despite his father being a preacher, Malcolm never completely understood the meaning and importance of religion as a child. Nevertheless, he regularly attended his father’s services and later reflected on it as follows:
Even at that young age, I just couldn’t believe in the Christian concept of Jesus as someone divine. And no religious person, until I was in my twenties – and then in prison – could tell me anything. I had very little respect for most people who represented religion (Haley 83).
However, the following chapter will show that certain incidents would make Malcolm X change his mind regarding religion. So already in his early life X realised that he had become the victim of many injustices only due to his skin colour. The resulting hatred against whites mixed with his strong personality just as his faith in Allah would soon become the fundament for his later activities as the civil rights leader.
- Quote paper
- Anonymous,, 2018, The Development of Malcolm X's Ideology, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/1266567
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