During his time in prison, Malcolm X created a new man. A man who rose up out of the muck of ignorance and sleazy, parasitic living. A man who found, and was angered by, the fact that he was uneducated and could scarcely read and write. A man who, above all, wanted to lift the veil of NOT KNOWING and let the light of knowledge banish the darkness of evil misinformation. Malcolm X succeeded in recreating himself, and he was put in a unique position to do so. Not many that are as far gone as he from the guiding lights of truth and virtuous pursuit are able to come back, and not only save themselves, but return with a vengeance to educate others! His achievement was, and still remains, no small thing. Prison removed him from his life of crime and minimized the sorts of harmful distractions that might prevent a man from seeking education (the proverbial *****, money , weed.)
It was interesting to note what initially motivated him to copy the dictionary, expand his vocabulary and learn the rules of grammar. He got MAD. He got mad at himself for being so inadequate that he could not write a cohesive letter in reply to Elijah Muhammad, who undoubtedly had a prose style of at least moderate eloquence. That anger was his motivation to do the painstaking work required to learn the fundamentals of formal language, and it was the same force that often powered him through his earlier, less noble ventures. I find that interesting because his life in the streets pitted him against others and the world, but he was able to use the same drive that enabled him to survive there in order to become an educated, righteous man and do right by his "black brothers."
Although, to say that the words and actions of Malcolm X benefited only African-Americans is plain wrong. The considerations that his public appearances, directly and indirectly, bred in the minds of the whites of that time were undoubtedly indispensable to the civil rights movement and the gradual, upward social motion of the black man in America. As a man and a leader of men, Malcolm X accomplished a great deal. His case serves as an illustration of the twisted, unpredictable paths that individual lives often take, and the boundless capacity of people to change for the better over time. Life is a concourse of decisions, and as he found himself at his crossroads and chose well, so he was able to help others choose for themselves.
P.S. The girl sitting a seat away from me as I write this in Graphic Design is actually related to Malcolm X, because he was her grandfather's first cousin. The daughters that Malcolm had with Betty "X" remain in close contact with Dara's (the girl's) mother, who has the last name Little. I thought that was cool as HELL, thought I'd share.
