The Autobiography of Malcolm X As Told by Alex Haley

The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told by Alex Haley leads readers through how Malcolm X became an integral “catalyst” and how he evolved to be the man he was at the end of his short-lived life. When Malcolm X was just six years old, his father, a Baptist preacher, was allegedly murdered by the Klu Klux Klan. Malcolm X’s mother and ten siblings were swiftly ripped apart and placed into various foster homes. Of this experience, Malcolm X recalled, “I truly believe that if ever a state social agency destroyed a family, it destroyed ours” (22). Malcolm X received stellar grades and was elected class president of his middle school, however, when a teacher remarked to him that he could never be a lawyer because of his race, he dropped out after eighth grade and moved to Boston. He regarded this new phase of his life as an “educational situation” (89) and soon began dealing drugs and dabbling in burglary. He was arrested at the age of twenty-one. In prison, he turned to books and discovered his passion for reading and public speaking which awoke a “long dormant craving to be mentally alive” (182). Released from prison after six years, he dove headfirst into the Islamic religion which he used to profess that the collective white man was the devil and to encourage Black people to be proud of their heritage by banding together to battle racism through their faith to Allah.

As part coming-of-age narrative, part religious awakening, and predominantly a story of a man so inspired and persistent to lift the Black community that he viewed every day of his life as “borrowed,” the book sheds a much-deserved spotlight on the great leader and man, Malcolm X.