Makenzie Shanholtz

Mr.Wolfe

English 101 and 101 Lab

22 Oct.2023

Facing Against the Odds

Malcolm X and Frederick Douglass subsequently faced the odds of self-education.

During the time that Malcolm X spent seven years in prison, he educated himself and became a

disciple of Elijah Muhammad. Furthermore, Frederick Douglass was a slave in 1818 and learned

to read and write from his master’s wife. Furthermore, Malcolm X and Frederick Douglass’s

pieces are similar in relation to human rights and tone; however, they differ in relation to secrecy.

Both Malcolm X and Frederick Douglas both showcase extreme emotion when it comes

to education and expressing their frustrations of what it took to get there. Malcolm X stated, “I

became increasingly frustrated at not being able to express what I wanted to convey in letters that

I wrote, especially those to Mr. Elijah Muhammad. In the street, I had been the most articulate

hustler out there. I had commanded attention when I said something” (1). Malcolm X expresses

the amount of frustration as to him not being able to convey what he wanted to express because

he simply didn’t have the ability and education to do so. Malcolm X states: “I Saw that the best

thing I could do was get hold of a dictionary- to study, to learn some words. I was lucky enough

to reason also that I should try to improve my penmanship. It was sad. I couldn’t even write in a

straight line. It was both ideas together that moved me to request a dictionary along with some

tablets and pencils from the North folk Prison Colony school” (1). Furthermore, Frederick

Douglass expresses, “I lived in Master Hugh’s family and seven years. During this time, I

succeeded in learning to read in write. In accomplishing this, I was compelled to resort to various
stratagems. I had no regular teacher. My mistress, who had kindly commenced to instruct me…”

(Douglass 1.). In conclusion, both Frederick Douglass and Malcolm X indifferently were faced

with many obstacles in gaining an education.

Malcolm X and Frederick Douglass strongly believe in equal rights. Malcolm X feels as

if history has quote “been whitened”, he states “White men had written history books, that black

man simply had been left out… I will never forget how shocked I was when I began reading

about slavery’s total horror” (3). Malcom X talks about how learning about slavery latter became

a main topic when he became a minister of Mr. Muhammad’s. Furthermore, Frederick Douglass

was a prime example of overcoming slavery. Frederick Douglass learned to read and write and

escaped to New York. While in New York Douglass became a leader in the abolitionist

movement. Douglass edited a North Star, a newspaper named for the escaping southern slaves so

that they could find their way to freedom.

Frederick Douglass and Malcom X differentiate when it comes to the openness of their

education. Malcom X is more devoted to the fact that he looked up to Bimbi. Malcolm states, “It

had really begun back in the Charlestown Prison, when Bimbi first made me feel envy of his

stock of knowledge. Bimbi had always taken charge of any conversations he was in, and I tried

to emulate him” (1). Furthermore, Malcolm X emphasizes on the fact that he learned form

copying dictionary pages over and over again to teach himself how to read and write. Naturally

Malcolm X states, “I spent two days just riffling uncertainly through the dictionary’s pages. I’d

never realized how many words existed! I didn’t know which words I needed to learn. Finally,

just to start some kind of action, I began coping” (1). Malcolm X was so excited to read and

learn every day that he would risk the subsequent consequences of getting in trouble just to read.

Malcolm stated, “When I had progressed to really serious reading, every night at about ten P.M. I
would be outraged with the “lights out”. It always seemed to catch me right in the middle of

something engrossing” (2). Malcolm X would often times use the use the light from outside of

the door to read at night when he was supposed to be sleeping but nothing could stop him from

becoming more engrossed in his readings. Next, Frederick Douglass didn’t express the same way

when it came to his openness through education. Douglass was taught the alphabet as well as to

read and write from his mistress. Therefore, he couldn’t make it public and talk about her

teachings on the street like Malcolm X could because, it wasn’t aloud and frond upon. Frederick

Douglass describes his mistress as, “a kind and tender-hearted woman; and in the simplicity of

her soul she commenced, When I first went to live with her, to treat me as she supposed one

human being ought to treat another. In entering upon the duties of a slaveholder, she did not seem

to perceive that I sustained to her in relation of a mere chattel, and that for her to treat me as a

human being was not only wrong, but dangerously so.” (Douglass 1). What Douglass emphasizes

is just. If It wasn’t for his mistress he wouldn’t have had the opportunity of an education.

Therefore, Frederick Douglass and Malcolm X are not just different in the way they learned but

about how public they could be with what they were being taught.

In conclusion, Malcolm X and Frederick Douglass’s pieces are similar in relation to

Human rights and tone; however, they differ in relation to secrecy. The significance of Frederick

Douglass and Malcolm X’s pieces aren’t just about how they both overcame extreme

circumstances to get an education. But how they are both able to articulate human rights and the

momentousness emotion within their pieces. From Malcolm X learning to read in a prison cell

through a dictionary and contentious repetition. To him becoming a disciple of Elijah

Muhammad. As well as Frederick Douglass learning to read from his slave owners wife in

secrecy.
 Works Cited

Douglass, Frederick. “Learning to Read and Write.” Narrative of the Life of Frederick

Douglass.

Bedford St. Martins, 1845, pp. 1081-1085,

http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/webpub/english/bedguide8e/Public%20Domain

%20Readings/Douglass%20Learning%20to%20Read%20and%20Write.pdf. PDF file.

X, Malcolm. “Learning to Read.” The Autobiography of Malcolm X. Smccd, 1965,

http://accounts.smccd.edu/bellr/readerlearningtoread.htm. Accessed 21 March 2023.