Malcolm X
...ife by telling him that his dream was “no realistic goal for a nigger.” This caused Malcolm to not care about school. He dropped out and started working various jobs. He traveled to Harlem, New York and was committed of petty crimes. In 1942 Malcolm was involved with narcotics and prostitution. In 1946, Malcolm and his friend, Malcolm “Shorty” Jarvis, moved to Boston. They soon were arrested for burglary. Malcolm was sentenced to 10 years in prison, however spent 7 and then went on parole. While he was in jail, Malcolm taught himself and started to change his life back. While he was in prison he learned about and joined the Nation of Islam, where he studied Elijah Muhammad’s teachings. The Nation of Islam taught that the white society kept the colored people from achieving success. Malcolm was paroled in 1952 when he became a dedicated follower and changed his surname. He believed the name Little was a slave name and so he chose X because it signified his lost tribal name. Malcolm was named minister and national spokesman for the Nation of Islam. He used the radio and television to get the word out about it and increased the NOI’s membership from 500 to over 30,000 people. In 1964 Malcolm found out that Muhammad was secretly having relations with six different women whom were members of the NOI. Muhammad had taught that people should remain celibate until marriage, and this violated that. Malcolm was deeply hurt and felt guilty for bringing all these people into this organization now that he is realizing that it is false. Malcolm left the NOI in March of 1964 and founded his own religious organization named, the Muslim Mosque, Inc. Malcolm went on a trip to Saudi Arabia where he shared his thoughts and beliefs with other cultures. He found that the others liked his thoughts and wanted to follow him. Malcolm came back and resigned his position in the Nation of Islam. He had been working on his autobiography for about two years with writer Alex Haley. Relations between Malcolm and Muhammad were very violent. Malcolm was given threats of death many times and would almost always have bodyguards around him. On February 14, 1965 Malcolm’s home was bombed, but he, his wife and their four daughters ...