1. Malcolm X’s father was ….

a) unknown to him and that’s why he adopted “X” as his family name.
b) Marcus Garvey, the leader of the Back-to-Africa movement.
c) Earl Little, a supporter of the civil rights’ cause who had received death
threats and was eventually found dead.
d) Earl Little, an outspoken Baptist minister who was eventually committed to
a mental institution.
2. At high school, Malcolm was…
a) discouraged by one of his teachers from becoming a lawyer.
b) found vandalizing the school building.
c) encouraged by one of his teachers to become a lawyer.
d) a bad student and as a result he dropped out.
3. His “street career” included illegal activities such as…
a) pick pocketing, gambling and distilling whisky.
b) being a pimp, a drug smuggler and a kidnapper. In 1946 he was finally sent
to prison for bank robbery
c) shoplifting, the arms trade and being a spy for the Soviets.
d) being a pimp, drug dealer and gambler. In 1946 he was sent to prison for
burglary
4. While Malcolm was national spokesman of the Nation of Islam…
a) he became really good friends with Elijah Muhammad
b) membership fell from 30,000 to 500
c) membership increased from 500 to 30,000
d) he conveyed Prophet Mohammed’s teachings to the masses.
5. He married Betty X in …. and the couple had …..
a) 1958/ six daughters (including twins Malaak and Malikah born in 1965)
b) 1948/ six sons (including twins Malaak and Malikah, named for their father)
c) 1958/six children (including twins Malaak and Malikah born after their
father’s assassination)
d) 1958/ twins Malaak and Malikah, named for their father
6. Malcolm X believed that in order to combat racism blacks should…
a) use non-violent protest
b) use any means necessary to protect themselves
c) convert to Islam, a religion that doesn’t teach to turn the other cheek.
d) convert to the Christian faith.
7. In 1964 he left the Nation of Islam. He founded the Muslim Mosque, Inc. and
a) took a pilgrimage to Mecca, re-named himself El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz
and returned to the US.

b) traveled to Egypt, where he met people of all races he could call his
brothers.
c) became a full-time Black History professor at the University of El Cairo.
d) started the organization Afro-American Unity in Saudi Arabia.
8. Malcolm, who was seen as a threat to the Nation of Islam, was killed…..
a) in February 1965 in a car crash
b) when his home was fire-bombed

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 c) when three gunmen shot him fifteen times at close range
d) in February 1965 when three gunmen shot him fifty times at close range

You can’t hate the roots of a tree, and not hate the tree
Read and listen to Malcolm X’s speech and then match the following headings to
the paragraph they summarize best. There is one more than you need.

1) We felt our skin color was hindering our social promotion

2) Whites have oppressed Blacks for centuries, so now it’s only natural for Blacks
to return them the favor.
3) The more you appreciate African things positively, the better your self-image
will be.
4) There should be unity among the Black community
5) African things do matter to Blacks living in the States
6) For important issues Blacks distrusted their peers and turned to Whites
7) Blacks living in the US are constantly brainwashed to make them believe they
are Americans.
8) A negative image of Africa led Black Americans into hating themselves
9) African Americans ended up loathing their physical characteristics.
10) There is no point in trying to appease someone who despises you
11) Without the share in a country’s wealth that any citizen is entitled to, you’re
not a citizen really

Answers: a ___, b ___, c ___, d ___, e ___, f ___, g ___, h ___, i ___, j ___

a. Why should the Black man in America concern himself since we've been away from
the African continent for three or four hundred years? Why should we concern
ourselves? What impact does what happens to them have upon us? Number one, you
have to realize that up until 1959 Africa was dominated by the colonial powers. Having
complete control over Africa, the colonial powers of Europe projected the image of
Africa negatively.

b. They always project Africa in a negative light: jungle savages, cannibals, nothing
civilized. Why then, naturally it was so negative that it was negative to you and me, and
you and I began to hate it. We didn't want anybody telling us anything about Africa,
much less calling us Africans. In hating Africa and in hating the Africans, we ended up
hating ourselves, without even realizing it. Because you can't hate the roots of a tree,
and not hate the tree. You can't hate your origin and not end up hating yourself. You
can't hate Africa and not hate yourself.

c. You show me one of these people over here who have been thoroughly brainwashed
and has a negative attitude toward Africa, and I'll show you one who has a negative
attitude toward himself. You can't have a positive toward yourself and a negative
attitude toward Africa at the same time. To the same degree that your understanding of
and attitude toward Africa become positive, you'll find that your understanding of and
your attitude toward yourself will also become positive.

d. And this is what the white man knows. So they very skillfully make you and me hate
our African identity, our African characteristics. You know yourself that we have been a

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people who hated our African characteristics. We hated our hair, we hated the shape of
our nose, we wanted one of those long doglike noses, you know; we hated the color of
our skin, hated the blood of Africa that was in our veins. And in hating our features and
our skin and our blood, why, we had to end up hating ourselves. And we hated
ourselves.

e. Our color became to us a chain--we felt that it was holding us back; our color became
to us like a prison which we felt was keeping us confined, not letting us go this way or
that way. We felt all of these restrictions were based solely upon our color, and the
psychological reaction to that would have to be that as long as we felt imprisoned or
chained or trapped by Black skin, Black features, and Black blood, that skin and those
features and that blood holding us back automatically had to become hateful to us. And
it became hateful to us.

f. It made us feel inferior; it made us feel inadequate made us feel helpless. And when
we felt victims to this feeling of inadequacy or inferiority or helplessness, we turned to
somebody else to show us the way. We didn't have confidence in another Black man to
show us the way, or Black people to show us the way. In those days we didn't. We
didn't think a man could do anything except play some horns--you know, make sound
and make you happy with some songs and in that way. But in serious things, where our
food, clothing, shelter, and education were concerned, we turned to the man. We never
thought in terms of bringing these things into existence for ourselves, we never thought
in terms of doing things for ourselves. Because we felt helpless. And what made us feel
helpless was our hatred for ourselves. One of the things that made the Black Muslim
movement grow was its emphasis upon things African. This was the secret to the
growth of the Black Muslim movement. African blood, African origin, African culture,
African ties.
g. And you'd be surprised--we discovered that deep within the subconscious of the
Black man in this country, he is still more African than he is American. He thinks that
he's more American than African, because the man is jiving him, the man is
brainwashing him every day. He's telling him, "You're an American, you're an
American." Man, how could you think you're and American when you haven't ever had
any kind of an American tree over here? You have never, never.

h. Ten men can be sitting at a table eating, you know, dining, and I can come and sit
down where they're dining. They're dining; I've got a plate in front of me, but nothing is
on it. Because all of us are sitting at the same table, are all of us are diners? I'm not a
diner until you let me dine. Then I become a diner. Just being at the table with others
who are dining doesn't make me a diner, and this is what you've got to get in your head
here in this country. Just because you're in this country doesn't make you an American.
No, you've got to go farther than that before you can become an American. You've got
to enjoy the fruits of Americanism. You haven't enjoyed those fruits. You've enjoyed
the thorns. You've enjoyed the thistles. But you have not enjoyed the fruits; no sir.

i. So I point these things out brothers and sister so that you and I will know the
importance of in 1965 being in complete unity with one each other, harmony with each
another, and not letting the man maneuver us into fighting one another.

j. I say again that I'm not a racist. I don't believe in any form of segregation or anything
like that. I'm for the brotherhood for everybody, but I don't believe in forcing

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brotherhood upon people who don't want it. So long as we practice brotherhood among
ourselves, and then others who want to practice brotherhood with us, we practice it with
them also; we’ll work for that. But I don't think that we should run around trying to love
somebody who doesn't love us.

Feeling Good by Nina Simone

As you listen to the song, complete the gaps with the missing words. You may want
to refer to the clues in the box at the end of the song.

Birds (1) __________ high you know how I feel

Sun in the (2) __________ you know how I feel
(3) _________ drifting on by you know how I feel

(refrain:)x2
It's a new (4) _________
It's a new (5) _________
It's a new (6) _________
For me
And I'm feeling (7) ________

Fish in the (8) _________ you know how I feel

(9) _________ running free you know how I feel
Blossom on the (10) ____________ you know how I feel

(refrain)
Dragonfly out in the (11) _________ you know what I mean, don't you know
(12) ___________ all having fun you know what I mean
_____________(13) in peace when day is done
That's what I mean

And this (14) __________ world is a (15) ___________world

And a (16) __________ world
For me

(17) ______________when you shine you know how I feel

(18) ____________of the pine you know how I feel
Oh freedom is (19) ___________
And I know how I feel
(refrain)

Clues:

(1) verb, begins with f; (2) above us; (3) a gentle wind; (4) first thing in the morning; (5)
opposite of night; (6) opposite of death; (7) opposite of bad; (8) where fish live; (9)
water flowing inland; (10) big, tall plant with leaves; (11) shines in the sky; (12) pretty,
fluttering insects; (13) opposite of awake; (14) opposite of new; (15) opposite of old;
(16) opposite of afraid; (17) these twinkle in the night sky; (18) pleasant smell; (19)
something that belongs to you

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