Annotation #3: Learning to Read (Malcolm X)

1) Summary/ Main Ideas:

This writing is all about Malcolm X's journey in "homemade education". He explains how when he was in the streets he only wrote in slang and couldn't read. Charlestown Prison was a turning point in his life because he got ahold of a dictionary and improved his penmanship by copying down every word. He learned so much from the dictionary saying, "Actually the dictionary is like a miniature encyclopedia." As his vocabulary grew he started to read books. He would sneak in reading past "lights out" because he was so intrigued. What fascinated him the most was history, especially between white and non-whites. He states that Wonders of the World series really impressed him. The subject of slavery made the most impact on him and how white men treated non-white men badly. Some examples he read about where how the British controlled India,White declaring the Opium War on Chinese, and the U.S enslaved and murdered African Americans. He ends the reading expressing how thankful he was to be in prison because it allowed him to study and teach him stuff about the world; it gave him more knowledge than he imagined having.

2) Quotes & Reactions/ Responses:

- “ ..during the rest of my time in prison I would guess I wrote a million words”.

This quote surprised me because he must have had a lot of motivation and determination to copy down the whole dictionary. 

-“ In fact, up to then, I never had been so truly free in prison”.

This is impressive that he got a better education in prison than outside of prison. He says he felt the most free in prison because he finally gained knowledge and read many books to escape and distract him from the bad things happening to him.

-“ I knew right there in prison that reading had changed forever the course of my life”.

He says this because I think all his life he wanted to learn more but never got the chance til prison and that motivated him to read and write.

3) Questions for discussion:

-When he says, “ ..helped me to understand that if you start with a black man, a white man could be produced; but starting with a white man, you never could produce a black man”.

Is he referencing to genetics and birth or alluding to slavery and how white men treat black men?

- What do you think he did after getting out of prison? Is he part of a black union organization?