Despite the fact that the articles we read were by various authors, they still had a trait. Jiang, Malcom X, and Douglass all had educational backgrounds. These works share the category of autobiography, which has a great impact on one’s personal development, transformation, and the removal of barriers both inside and outside of themselves.

Frederick Douglass wrote “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave” to describe his journey toward self-empowerment and self-acknowledgement, including learning to read and write and improving his education. Douglass focused on how he and other fellow African Americans were prevented from learning and progressing to better education. But despite this, he continued to educate himself. He never gave up and explored new ways to study. Malcolm X’s book “Learning to Read” serves as the main justification for his attempts to increase his education while incarcerated. He describes how he transformed from an uneducated, illiterate criminal to a voracious reader. Through the books he finds, Malcolm X discovers information about social issues, history, and culture. This essay highlights the transformative power of learning and reading in Malcolm X’s life and demonstrates how his expanded knowledge was crucial to his ideological and personal development. Last but not least, Anita Jiang analyzes how her grandmother’s advice and lessons influenced her own academic career in her article “The Memory of My Grandmother.” Her grandmother gave her direction and vital life lessons that were not frequently discussed in school. Overall, her grandmother had the greatest influence on her life because even though she had experienced loss, she was still able to find solace and get the direction she needed to achieve the best life she could have imagined.

In conclusion, each work highlights the struggles and challenges the characters faced in order to obtain their education and improve themselves. For Malcolm X, it was the restrictions and resources he had when he was imprisoned; for Jiang, it was the cultural and generational limitations; and for Douglass, the issue was that slave masters would not permit their slaves to attend school but managed to find a method for them to learn.