Malcolm X: By All Means Necessary

Malcolm X: By All Means Necessary

As I finished reading the book “Malcolm X: By All Means Necessary”, I thought about a lot of the things Malcolm X stood for; equal rights, black power and freedom from the “white man”. Malcolm had an ideology that he stood for strongly, which to me is especially important. Malcolm fought for the black population in the 1960’s through adversity and defeat, he took a stand for what he believed in and helped change the face of a nation.

Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little on May 19, 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska.

His mother, Louise Norton Little, was a homemaker occupied with the family's eight children. His father, Earl Little, was an outspoken Baptist minister and avid supporter of Black Nationalist leader Marcus Garvey. Malcolm got a lot of his strong opinions and ideas from his father. His father’s civil rights activism prompted death threats from a white supremacist organization known as the “Black Legion”, forcing the family to relocate twice before Malcolm's fourth birthday.

Malcolm was a smart, focused student. He graduated from junior high at the top of his class. However, Malcolm’s dreams of becoming a lawyer were harshly shattered by teachers and students criticism. Malcolm’s peers and teachers shunned him for being an intelligent black male. Malcolm lost almost all interest in school, confused and upset, he dropped out of school. After Malcolm dropped out of school, he left his family and traveled to Boston holding various odd jobs. He then traveled to Harlem, New York where he committed petty crimes and got involved with gangs and crime. By 1942 Malcolm was coordinating various narcotics, prostitution and gambling rings.

Eventually, Malcolm moved back to Boston with a friend. Malcolm started committing petty theft and various burglaries. In 1946 they were arrested and convicted on burglary charges, and Malcolm was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Malcolm understood that he needed to change his life and turn around his future. He used the time to further his education. It was during this period of self-enlightenment that Malcolm's brother Reginald would visit and discuss his recent conversion to the Muslim religion. Reginald belonged to the religious organization the Nation of Islam. Intrigued, Malcolm studied the teachings of Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad. Muhammad taught that white society actively worked to keep African-Americans from empowering themselves and achieving political, economic and social success. Among other goals, the Nation of Islam fought for a state of their own, separate from one inhabited by white people. By the time he was paroled in 1952, Malcolm was a devoted follower. Malcolm changed his last name to “X”; he considered "Little" a slave name and chose the