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Malcolm X: Life
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With younger or less advanced readers, hold a class discussion about the different names Malcolm X used during his life. Next to each name, ask the class to brainstorm adjectives that describe Malcolm X during that period in his life. Then brainstorm events that shaped him during that time. After this discussion, divide the class into four groups, assign each group a different name, and have each group select one quote from the book that reflects Malcolm X during that period. Have one member from each group read the quote aloud to the class.
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Ironically, Malcolm X made a bigger impact on black politics and culture dead than alive. The Watts Rebellion occurred and the Black Power Movement emerged just months after his death, and his ideas about community control, African liberation, and self-pride became widespread and influential. His autobiography, written with Alex Haley, became a movement standard. Malcolm X's life story proved to the Black Panther Party, founded in 1966, that ex-criminals and hustlers could be turned into revolutionaries.
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The memory and image of Malcolm X has changed as much after his death as his own philosophies changed during his life. At first thought to be a violent fanatic, he is now understood as an advocate of self-help, self-defense, and education; as a philosopher and pedagogue, he succeeded in integrating history, religion, and mythology to establish a framework for his ultimate belief in world brotherhood and in human justice. Faith, in his view, was a prelude to action; ideas were feckless without policy. At least three books published since his death effectively present his most enduring thoughts. In 1992, a monumental film by Spike Lee based on his autobiography, renewed interest and understanding in the meaning of the life and death of Malcolm X.
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Comparing the language of King and Malcolm X can be helpful. In some ways their analyses of the evils institutionalized in American life are quite similar. Though Malcolm X's blowtorch denunciations are harsher than King's, the main difference lies in King's willingness to grant whites a way around the guilt that King so skillfully evoked. In King's rhetorical world, whites-- even ardent segregationists--could listen, change their ways, and learn to practice love and democracy. King claimed that his methods could actually win opponents over to his view.
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Living with his sister in Boston, Malcolm worked as a shoeshine boy, soda jerk, busboy, waiter, and railroad dining car waiter. At this point he began a criminal life that included gambling, selling drugs, burglary, and hustling.
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Malcolm X cannot be summed up in a few convenient phrases, because during his life he went through distinct changes in his philosophies and convictions. He had three names: Malcolm Little, Malcolm X, and El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz. Each name has its own history and illuminates a different facet of the man who remains one of the most compelling Americans of the 20th century.
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