Essays --

Robert Miyoshi Dr. Conti CPRL 110-04 15 December 2013 The Religious Journey of Malcolm X Malcolm X is widely known as one of the most influential figures in the movement of Civil Rights. Although his views did change over time, he was always very sincere about his beliefs and stood by them one-hundred percent. He was born Malcolm Little, to a Baptist lay speaker and a Grenada-born homemaker, Malcolm’s family had to be relocated several times because of constant death-threats toward his father. At the age of six, Earl, Malcolm’s father was killed in a streetcar accident that the family believed was the work of a white supremacist group called the Black Legion. At thirteen, Malcolm’s mother was institutionalized at a mental hospital, leaving her children to be separated into foster homes. Although an excellent student in junior high school, Malcolm dropped out of school when a white teacher told him that his dream of practicing law was â€Å"no realistic goal for a nigger†. After a youth of petty crime and a young adulthood of larger infractions, Malcolm found himself in jail for larceny and breaking and entering. While serving his eight to ten year sentence at Charlestown State Prison, Malcolm began reading and furthering his education through reading. Also while in prison, Malcolm’s brother, Reginald visited him bearing news of a religion called the â€Å"Nation of Islam†. This belief system fit well with Malcolm’s views of white people: that they are devils and that black men and women are truly the superior race. While still in prison, Malcolm maintained correspondence with Elijah Muhammad, the leader of the Nation of Islam. The ‘X’ in Malcolm’s name began appearing in 1950 and replaced his surname â€Å"Little† because, â€Å"[his] ‘X’ replac... ...s as they saw that Nation as only a role-reversal of the white/black conflict in the United States. The Nation of Islam was labeled as hatemongers, black supremacists, racists, violence-seekers, segregationists, and a threat to improved race relations. Malcolm X went even as far as to denounce the civil rights movement and called Martin Luther King Jr. a â€Å"chump† and other civil rights leaders â€Å"stooges† of the white establishment. While in the height of his popularity among the Nation of Islam and as numbers of blacks in the United States joined the Nation, Malcolm had internal conflicts. These were because he had found out that Elijah Muhammad had had extramarital affairs with other members of the Nation of Islam; a huge sin within the religion. Muhammad had had as many as six women that he had slept with and Malcolm X was deeply affected by his leader’s actions.