Biography of Malcolm X - Essay Example

Malcolm’s father was strict, but unlike with his siblings, he was not so belligerent with Malcolm. This is perhaps because black parents were then brainwashed into treating lighter children better. At school, Malcolm was a good student but he was told by the career counselor that because he was black, “he could aim only as high as a job as a skilled laborer” (Malcolm X, 1999). His childhood was marked by violence from the Ku Klux Klan. In his own autobiography, he mentions his father, the Reverend Earl Little who was a Baptist minister; a visiting preacher.

He was also a dedicated organizer for Marcus Garveys UNIA (Universal Negro Improvement Association). Marcus believed that "freedom, independence and self-respect could never be achieved by the Negro in America, and that therefore the Negro should leave America to the white man and return to his African land of origin." (Malcolm X, 1999) He advised blacks to become independent of whites, He recounts one of his earliest memories whilst living in Lansing, Michigan in their own house after a brief stay in Milwaukee.

He joined his father in spreading the teachings of the UNIA. But this time The Black Legion reviled his family for their revolutionary ideas and for wanting to own a store. He recalls the day that two white men set their house on fire. The family escaped but he describes how “The white police and firemen came and stood around watching as the house burned down to the ground” (Malcolm X, 1999). Instead, they only wanted to know whether his father had a permit for the pistol he used to shoot at the white men who started the fire and ran away.

Then they moved again, and once more, this time to an out of town place where his father built another house where Malcolm grew up. His fathers constant crusading and ‘militant campaigning’ had a profound effect on Malcolm. He was