Malcolm X & His Conversions essays

Malcolm X & His Conversions essays Malcolm X is still an icon today for the impact he had on the world over 25 years ago and in this essay I will provide a brief summary of his life along with an analysis of his character next to that of the convert social type. I will focus mainly on two times in his life. His conversion to Islam from within prison and his reaction to arriving in Mecca - some say his second conversion. Malcolm X, born Malcolm Little, was born in 1925 in northern USA. While still very young his family was chased from their home by the Klu Klux Klan. The next home they moved to was burned to the ground by another racist group. They were left standing outside their home wearing nothing but the underwear they were sleeping in. Being the child with the lightest coloured skin in the family was, for Malcolm, both a blessing and a curse. His mother was harder on him because he served as a reminder of the white slave owner that raped her mother. His father was easier on him seeing him as comanding more respect for his light skin - a fact that Malcolm would later see as the brainwashing. When Malcolm was six his father was killed - run over by a car. The white-owned insurance company didn't pay out. After using all their savings and credit to support the family his mother was forced to turn to welfare, but this turned their situation into a state affair. At the age of twelve the state then separated Molcolm's family and his mother was comitted to a mental institution. This was the first form of institutional racism that Malcolm was exposed to. Malcolm was then sent to an integrated school where he was one on the only black pupils. He was one of the top student until one day, when asked what his desired profession was, he was told that, as a 'nigger', wanting to be a lawyer was an unrealistic dream. He was told carpentry was better suited for black people. All the white children where told to follow their dreams. (Cone, 1991) (Gallagher, 1990) After being r...