Biased Found in Malcom X Biographies
Malcolm X’s Biography When I was in elementary school I remember hearing Malcolm X’s name briefly mentioned whenever we studied the civil rights movement. ... I found this shocking because I assumed he was a civil rights hero based on the small amount of information I had received about him in elementary school. So in order to learn first hand how he became Malcolm X, I decided to read his autobiography, written by Alex Haley. Malcolm X was given the name Malcolm Little when he was born into a family of eight children. ... He then changed his last name to “X” to symbolize the rejection of his slave name. He soon became a close friend and avid follower of the founder and leader of the Nation of Islam, Elijah Muhammad (Autobiography of Malcolm X by Alex Haley 1-200). Malcolm X was such an eloquent and inspirational public speaker that he became as popular as Elijah Muhammad, which caused tension in the Nation of Islam. ... Malcolm was assassinated in 1965, but before his assassination he had renounced his earlier sentiments about the devilishness of white people (Autobiography of Malcolm X by Alex Haley Ch. ... After reading various articles about Malcolm X, I realized that because of his controversial beliefs, different groups of people viewed him differently. The first brief biography I found was from the Encyclopedia Encarta on the internet. ... Therefore, I was surprised to see the differences in the two biographies. Based on Malcolm X’s own account, his father was murdered by white supremacists. ... However, the police ruled that it was a suicide so that the family was not entitled to any insurance money and no one was ever arrested (Autobiography of Malcolm X by Alex Haley 10-11).