Malcolm X's experience without the white people as he was growing up brought him to what he believed of white people in his earlier years. He was able to overcome many traumatic experiences in order to keep on going with his beliefs.
His message in his earlier years was somewhat harsh on the white population, but
in his later years he was carrying a good message towards them. Malcolm X
overcame many tough obstacles in his life to become one of America's most
influential black leader of his time.
Malcolm X, or Malcolm Little as he was known in his childhood years, had
a very traumatic childhood. Encarta states that since his father was a Baptist at a
black church the Ku Klux Klan harassed his family often. This would have been
very scary for a child of Malcolm's age at the time. This is probably one of the
reasons why he had a grudge against whites for the better part of his early years.
After Malcolm's family broke up he lived with many different foster homes until
living with his sister in Boston (Schooling 2). As a kid it would be hard traveling
all over the country living with different parents every few months. It takes a really
emotionally strong person to put up with this type of change so often. His
childhood was pretty rough and one of the ways he delt with it was to resort to
Malcolm X got involved with all types of illegal activity with some really
dangerous people. He was narcotics, gambling, and pimping. He picked up the
name Detroit Red when he was involved with illegal activity in Detroit (Schooling
2). He had nowhere else to go or do but be involved with illegal businesses. He
formed his own house robbing gang, and he was caught and sentenced to ten years
in prison (Arnold and Gutierrez 15). This was in the long run probably the best
thing that happened to Malcolm's whole life. Going to prison not only stopped him
from doing more illegal activity but also he learne...