The American Dream: Malcolm X and Rugged D.

Malcolm X grew up in the Midwest during the 1930’s. His family moved to Michigan where is father was murdered sending his mother into a mental breakdown. When he finished his eighth grade at a foster home he moved to Boston with his half-sister Ella. At this point Malcolm became engulfed into the night life. He gets a job as a railway porter and moves to New York. It is there that he becomes a hustler and involves himself in illegal activities by Sammy and Shorty. When things get to dangerous in Harlem he moves back to Boston where he is arrested for burglary.

Malcolm X was first named Malcolm Little on May 19, 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska. His mother, was a homemaker, and his father, was a Baptist minister and an outspoken supporter of Black Nationalist leader Marcus Garvey. His civil rights activism was the cause for death threats from the Black Legion, a white supremacist organization. They had forced Malcolm X to move four times before his fourth birthday! Even though they had tried to run to run from the legion, two years later, Malcolm’s dad’s body was found across the local town’s trolley tracks. His mother than

Malcolm X was born in Omaha on May 19, 1925 as Malcolm Little to Reverend Earl Little and Louise Little. Malcolm’s father was a Baptist minister and a committed organizer for Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) . Garvey believed that the black race should remain pure and return to the homeland (Africa) . Malcolm’s father’s involvement led to two of their houses being burned down by Ku Klux Klan members. At age six, Malcolm’s father was killed by Ku Klux Klan members. After, his father’s death his mother was soon pronounced paranoid and the kids were split up . At age twenty, Malcolm began serving six and a half years in prison for larceny. In prison, he read history, philosophy, religion, about the life of Gandhi, and Nat Turner. He also read the works of W.E.B. DuBois, Shakespeare, and Socrates. It was in prison that he found out about Islam through his brother who became a member of the Nation of Islam. Once released Malcolm joined the nation of Islam and became Malcolm X . Elijah Muhammad, the head of the Nation of Islam, took Malcolm under his wing. Soon, Malcolm worked to expand the black Islamic community and even became of the most important temple on the east coast, Temple No. 7 in Harlem . Later on, Malcolm had become very expressive about civil rights during his speeches and they were not often centered around religion. This angered Elijah Muhammad and caused them to drift. Malcolm soon left the Nation of Islam and created his own religious organization called the Muslim Mosque Inc. for his followers. This caused the Nation of Islam to become even more upset with Malcolm. Later more conflicts arose between the two groups. On February 21, 1965 Malcolm was assassinated by three Black Muslims before delivering a speech in Harlem .

“In this country American means white. Everybody else has to hyphenate” said Toni Morrison. If so, is American Dream only for the White people? In a society where racial inequality was prevalent throughout the country, non white people, especially African Americans were treated severely. Such phenomenon, known as the social reproduction is closely examined by Jay Macleod in the book “Ain’t No Makin’ It”. Macleod closely examines two groups of working class teenagers in Massachusetts. One group, known as The Hallway Hangers, filled with white boys, and the Brothers, composed mainly of African American boys. By laying out multiple social theories and bringing in several sociologists’ theories, Macleod reveals his thoughts on why social reproduction occurs in the United States and why an American Dream is something that only few people could achieve. MacLeod shows that race, along with with class are directly proportional to people’s aspirations. If they belong in the lower class, they would automatically achieve less, no matter how hard they try. This means, working class children usually end up having working class jobs in the future. In order for people to get one step closer towards success, they must learn and develop their own cultural capital. One’s social background such as access to proper education determines one’s class within the society and has huge influence on one’s future life.

The life of Malcolm X was a very disturbing and interesting one. I say that, because Malcolm X was criminal, minister, a powerful leader, and an icon to his religious followers. Born Malcolm Little, before converting to the Nation of Islam, young Malcolm grew up around a lot of segregation and racism. Growing up in Omaha, Nebraska he had to deal with the KKK (Ku Klux Klan), especially because his father was a preacher, who preached the word of God and rights for African American. After the mysterious death of his father which was heard that the KKK took him and tied him to the train tracks, as a train killed him. Young Malcolm moved to Boston where he became

Malcolm X was born on May 19th, 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska. He had 8 siblings, his mother a "stay at home" mom, and his father was a baptist and a large supporter of black nationalism. His father's support of black nationalism led to his family constantly being targeted by white supremacist groups. This led to his fathers death in 1931. He and his best friend moved to Boston, where they were convicted of burglary and sentenced to 7 years in prison. After getting out he was convinced by a friend to take interest in he Muslim religion, and so he did. The NOI (Nation of Islam) gave Malcolm access to newspaper columns and articles allowing him to spread his believes. After leaving NOI and denouncing them, Malcolm was marked for assassination, and

Malcolm X was born on May 19, 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska. Born into a large family, the family did not have a lot of money. So they moved to Milwaukee in 1926 and then to Lansing in 1928. Malcolm, growing up in a family with many brothers and sisters, lost his father at the young age of six after he was hit by a car. Malcolm would go on to live in

As the title of the book suggests, The Autobiography of Malcolm X tells the life story of Malcolm Little from his childhood in Lancing, Michigan, up to his assassination (told in the epilogue) in 1965. His childhood was rough, his father was killed by a racist mob, and his mother was committed to a mental home when he was young. After moving to Boston to live with his sister, Malcolm fell in with the various “hustlers” in the city involved in scams, drug dealing, prostitution, etc. Things only escalated when he moved to Harlem. While in the bustling new city, Malcolm both sold and smoked dope, handled prostitutes, and even committed armed robbery. The major change in his life occurs when he is arrested for the latter, right after his almost fatal conflict with a local gangster. It’s in prison where Malcolm experiences his religious conversion. Sparked by his family’s new beliefs, the letters of “The Nation of Islam Leader” Elijah Muhammad, and his habit of voracious reading, Malcolm Little converted to The Nation of Islam, and claimed his new name of Malcolm X, representing his lost “true family name”(Haley 186).

Malcolm X's life was a life with a lot of conflict and violence in it. Malcolm X was born under the name of Malcolm Little in Omaha, Nebraska in 1925. His father was a baptist minister and an outspoken follower of Marcus Garvey, the black nationalist leader of the 1920s who preached that all blacks should leave the US and go back to Africa.

Right from his childhood, Malcolm X, experienced racism. As a child brought up in Omaha, Nebraska, Malcolm experienced his father being nearly lynched and his home being burnt down by the Klansmen. Later, white supremacists killed his father and his mother was committed to a mental hospital. Despite his father being clearly

Malcolm X was born Omaha, Nebraska. His childhood is full of discrimination and racial violence. Malcolm’s family moves to Michigan where they still have to deal with racial tension.Malcolm's Father was murdered and his mother was put into a mental hospital. After living in a Michigan detention home and finishing the eighth grade, Malcolm moves to Boston to live with his half-sister Ella. In Boston, Malcolm quickly becomes involved in shady business. People thought he was a lot older than he actually was with him being involved with doing drugs, drinking, and dating an older white women named Sophia. Malcolm takes a job as a railway porter. He then moved to New York where he became a hustler. Malcolm’s tasks there include selling drugs, luring

Malcolm X is unjustly viewed as notorious for the fear he caused White America. The controversy he caused was bigger than ever before, and most of his simple actions were skewed and twisted by the media. Malcolm X grew up persecuted by what was America and stayed persecuted as he fought against the systematic oppression that based the way the U.S treated African-Americans. Malcolm X (also known as Malcolm Little or El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz) was born May 19th 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska. He was born to the parents Earl Little, and Louise Norton Little. Earl Little was a carpenter, but his reputation to the town came from him being a civil rights activist and outspoken member of the MGUNIA, or the Marcus Garvey Universal Negro Improvement Association. Earl followed closely with the beliefs and ideas of Marcus Garvey, who was a black separatist, which caused Earl to get death threats from racist organizations such as Black Legion and the Ku Klux Klan. Despite his efforts to elude the threats, in 1929, his enemies prevailed and burned their Lansing, Michigan home to the ground. Two years after, Earl’s body was found on the trolley tracks of Lansing. He died shortly after he was found. Even though the entire case strongly pointed to assassination, it was ruled an accident by police, and suicide by life insurance.

Malcolm X, born Malcolm Little faced adversity early on as a young child with his father’s death and his family splitting up since he mother was mentally ill. Yet Malcolm’s

Before delving into what made Malcolm X such an effective and controversial leader, it is important to spend some time on where he came from. Born on May 19, 1925, in Omaha, Nebraska, his formative experiences of white culture were wholly negative. According to his autobiography, he said that his “earliest vivid memory” was “being snatched awake into a

Malcolm X did not have an easy life growing up. After the loss of his father, a Baptist minister and a black nationalist, and the admittance of his mother to a mental institution at an early