Shivam Patel
Professor Caitlyn Doherty
English 1001
30 January 2023
Text in Action Proposal
For the Text in Action paper, I plan on using Malcolm X’s Learning to Read. I chose this piece of text because of the impact Malcolm X had on the Civil Rights Movement. I believe that people like Malcolm, MLK, and Rosa Parks had a big part to do with the changes in culture and beliefs in America on African Americans. The moving essay "Learning to Read" by Malcolm X describes how, while imprisoned, he taught himself to read. He became a civil rights activist after reading about the terrible events in history and learning about them. Throughout "Learning to Read," Malcolm X expressed a range of emotions and positions. His work clearly reflects his emotions,
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He claims that reading is crucial to readers' lives, just as it was to his, because it helps people develop their own opinions. “It is challenging to create your own ethical beliefs when you lack the ability to read and comprehend the world” Malcolm X offers the reader a richer reading and learning experience that is simple to understand thanks to the variety of points of view, organization, and language he uses in his impassioned and forceful account of his life. Although it varies a little at the beginning, middle, and ending of his essay, Malcolm's point of view is largely similar throughout. He begins by recalling his early years, when he was unable to read. He also talks about how he taught himself to read when he was incarcerated. He conveys his point of view through the manner he describes his journey. Because Malcom X describes his true process of learning to read, readers may place him on their level and relate to him. The reader has a different opinion of him as a result of this. He's just your typical prisoner trying to find his place in the world. His perspective is still that of an inmate in the center, but he now has more knowledge to
Malcolm X, a world-renowned activist leader. His essay “Homemade Education” expresses his determination to read and write better. He desired to be able to grab the audience attention and shock them with his knowledge. Malcolm X became an influential leader from reading and writing in prison despite the lack of formal education of black men.
In the narrative, “Learning to Read,” Malcolm X discusses the topic of how significant it is to learn how to read and write and how it can be beneficial. He believes that people should take initiative and go for what they want in life instead of making excuses. First, he opened up by saying how frustrated he was not being able to read or write. After he was involved in criminal activity, Malcolm, was sentenced for seven years in Charlestown prison. During his time in prison, he met a prisoner named Bimbi.
"Once you learn to read, you will be free forever." He believed that reading and writing gave him the power to understand the world and his own state, and to communicate with others. His literacy also allowed him to challenge the dehumanizing
Education is Power The Civil Rights Movement took place during the mid-1950s and late 1960s where African Americans protested against the injustice of not receiving the same civil liberties as white Americans. Activists who took part in the Civil Rights Movement, used a non-violent approach to protesting such as the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Greensboro sit-ins, and the march from Selma to Montgomery in order to bring about equality. African Americans began to receive equality as shown by the implementation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968. In Malcolm X’s, “Learning to Read”, he encourages his audience to learn from his mistakes through stories of his background that reflect his beliefs that under-educated people need to become aware of the less than positive history of the oppression of African Americans if they plan on attaining their freedom.
Summary of "Learning to Read" by Malcolm X In his essay "Learning to Read" from the chapter "Saved" in Malcolm's Autobiography published in New York (Grove Press, 1965). Malcolm was born in Omaha, Nebraska and his father was a political activist on behalf of Marcus Garvey. After he and his family moved to East Lansing, Michigan, where his father was killed and his mother placed in a mental institution. he became an orphan and ended up on the streets of Detroit where he was known as "Detroit Red".
Many of us take education for granted and don’t learn to our fullest potential, but Fredrick Douglass soaked in every piece of information up because he knew it was his way out. “Learning to Read and Write” is a famous article based on what Fredrick Douglass went through to earn a valuable education while being enslaved. Author Fredrick Douglass, wrote “Learning to Read and Write”, published in 1845. Throughout the article, he takes us through different events he goes through while being enslaved. Douglass begins building his credibility with personal facts and successfully demonstrating logic and pathos appeal.
Through his use of such radical ideas and solutions to the civil rights problems of his day, Malcolm X captivates his black audience. Malcolm X completely shatters his listeners' beliefs, using a roundabout form of rhetoric: he uses harsh language that seems to degrade his audience, while, at the same time, he increases their self-confidence subconsciously through their emotions. In successfully convincing his audience that identifying with the white population is not conducive to the eventual liberation of the black people, he is able to say to his fellow
If he were to go down the path and follow the footsteps of the rest of his family, his life would have been condemned to mediocrity like the rest of his family. Similarly, in Malcolm X’s case, reading allowed him to open his mind and understand other people’s perspectives. When Malcolm X was in prison, he developed an affinity for reading, and he begun to read more and more to learn more about the world. What he learned from the books he read played important roles in Malcolm’s fame later in life. “I don’t think anybody ever got more out of going to prison than I did.
In “Learning to Read”, Malcolm X uses rhetorical analysis to argue how African Americans continued to struggle in gaining education due to racism. He informs people that through our history books, there have been modifications that restrain the truth about the struggles black people faced. Malcolm X encouraged his audience to strive to get the rights that they deserved. He demonstrates that knowledge is very important because the truth empowers us. In his interview he persuades his audience with diction, tone, pathos, ethos, and appeal to emotion to make his point.
Although he learned a lot due to books, he believes that each book teaches you a lesson. He believes that all bad books usually have a greater lesson to teach you than the good books. Books also thought him what he can and can’t do while writing. While reading books he learned “Good writing, on the other hand, teaches the learning writer about style, graceful narration, plot development, the
This idea emphasizes the true passion Malcolm X had for knowledge and shows that reading is the tool that gave him the ability to communicate with others intelligently; as a child my family and I moved around a lot, causing us to uproot our lives constantly. Like Malcolm X when he was isolated in prison, I felt the same emotion of being lost when I moved overseas and could not communicate well with others. This made me the new kid everywhere we went, and books became my escape. For example, we moved to the town of Hamburg, Germany, which is a major port city, and they had a university near where I was living.
Learning to read by Malcolm X is an autobiographical piece describing his self-education. Malcom describes being “Increasingly frustrated. At not being able to express what I(He) wanted to convey in letters.” This gave him the drive to learn to read and write during his time in Charlestown Prison, and Norfolk Prison. He started his self-education by reading books, piecing together the bits that he could understand using context to complete sentences he could not comprehend.
A Homemade Education by Malcolm X, is an informative essay about the author Malcolm X dedication to further his education by himself. In this essay the author talks about how he was envious, how he turned that into motivation, and how he didn't let the fact that being imprisoned would keep him from pursing his goals. The essay " A Homemade Education" was very meaningful. The most meaningful thing to me about this essay was the dedication behind the authors purpose to further his education.
a. Explain the process by which the author improved his reading and writing abilities. The process by which the author improved his reading and writing abilities begins when he is in prison. At first, he studied in prison under the teaching of Mr. Elijah Muhammad, and he wrote letters to people, whom he knows in the outside world. After these letters were sent, he found out that it was difficult for him to express his feelings because of the lack of vocabulary.
He shared with an English writer that asked him what’s his Alma Mater, he said “Books” (5). In other words; his source of education is ledger. In order to be educated, you have to read . Malcolm X demonstrated that when he was in prison. He said “I knew right there in prison that reading had changed forever the course of my life” (5).