Malcolm X was not always the skilled and confident African American orator that we know and remember him as today. His education was a process and directly inspired by a couple different sources. Malcolm’s desire for a higher form of literacy came first when he found he was unable to communicate with an idol of his, an Islamic political figure. The second form of inspiration came from a prison mate by the name of Bimbi as Malcolm admired his ability to dominate a discussion with intelligent ideas and speech. Malcolm’s educational experience is a direct result of inspiration turning to motivation.
In order to tell the story of his literacy, Malcolm first had to show what caused him to want to become literate in the first place. It was tearing Malcolm apart that he was unable to transfer the feelings in his heart into words on paper. He sa
Malcolm had a long way to go as his race, lack of education, and lack of resources were all standing in his way. He was very lucky while in prison to have come in contact with an English Dictionary and he proceeded to copy down every single word in it. Malcolm said, “I’d written words that I never knew were in the world”(166). At this time, a black person, never the less a criminal, would be looked down upon by society and so Malcolm had to work extra hard to create his own learning opportunities. As Malcolm continued to read, he learned of things other then the meaning of words and how to use them in a sentence. He said, “The teachings of Mr. Muhammed stressed how history had been whitened”(167). Malcolm is showing here that literacy has more overall importance then just reading, writing, and oral skills but it also gives you the ability to explore your own culture
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