Micro-Activity #3: Malcolm X

Quote 1- “I saw that the best thing I could do was get hold of a dictionary – to study, to learn some words. I was lucky enough to reason also that I should try to improve my penmanship. It was sad. I couldn’t even write in a straight line. It was both ideas together that moved me to request a dictionary along with some tablets and pencils from the Norfolk Prison Colony school.                                         -Malcolm X, “Learning to Read”

Reason- Malcolm X was so dedicated to better himself as a reader and a writer that he chose to study off of a dictionary. He was determined to change the fact that he couldn’t write in a straight line. He then read the dictionary and learned about words the he never knew existed. The more he figured out, the more he wanted to find more and more. His learning was endless because he found things that he could learn and improve on each day. The more he dug in, the more fascinated he got.

Quote 2- “Available on the prison library’s shelves were books on just about every general subject. Much of the big private collection that Parkhurst had willed to the prison was still in crates and boxes in the back of the library ­thousands of old books. Some of them looked ancient: covers faded, old­time parchment-looking binding. Parkhurst. . . seemed to have been princi­pally interested in history and religion. He had the money and the special interest to have a lot of books that you wouldn’t have in a general circula­tion. Any college library would have been lucky to get that collection.”                                                                                                                                                                 -Malcolm X, “Learning to Read”

Reason- There is a specific reason that Malcolm included this piece about what he had encountered with. The reason is to show a message to the people reading it. Education can come from anywhere. It doesn’t have to be at the most prestigious school or your own house. Malcolm shared this detail with the readers to show that even when he was in prison he had furthered his journey to make himself a better reader and writer. He was in prison talking about they had better books than any other college. As long as you put your mind to the material that you have in front of you and are determined about learning and enhancing your skills in anything, then you can do it. He didn’t let the setting discouraged him. Matter of fact, he used the time that he was in prison , in that cell, to read and further his skills.

Quote 3- “I found books like Will Durant’s Story of Civilization. I read H. G. Wells’ Outline of History. Souls of Black Folk by W. E. B. Du Bois gave me a glimpse into the black people’s history before they came to this coun­try. Carter G. Woodson’s Negro History opened my eyes about black em­pires before the black slave was brought to the United States, and the early Negro struggles for freedom.”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 -Malcolm X, “Learning to Read”

Reason- Malcolm wasn’t around when African American history came into this country so he didn’t have any knowledge of that. These books provided the information that he wanted. Malcolm had such a good understanding to these words that he used it in his own. He later taught  these words to enlightened the people that looked up to him.

Quote 4- “I never will forget how shocked I was when I began reading about slav­ery’s total horror. It made such an impact upon me that it later became one of my favorite subjects when I became a minister of Mr. Muhammad’s. The world’s most monstrous crime, the sin and the blood on the white man’s hands, are almost impossible to believe. Books like the one by Frederick Olmsted opened my eyes to the horrors suffered when the slave was landed in the United States. ”                                                                                                                   -Malcolm X, “Learning to Read”

Reason- Malcolm used his skills that he taught himself when he was younger to learn about African American history. He studied and studied this topic due to the fact how interested he was in it. Due to the fact that he took the time to enhance his skills,  he was able to understand the author’s words and understand what he was saying he used it in his own teachings. Little things that Malcolm did made him a better speaker, writer, reader, and a role model.