American Literature--Malcolm X and Identity: "My Father Didn't Know His Last Name"

*
________________________________________________________________________

MALCOLM X: Our History was Destroyed by Slavery



________________________________________________________________________


On March 17, 1963, Malcolm X appeared on a television show in Chicago called City Desk (see also here). During the interview, interviewer Len O'Connor (an older white man) kept badgering him about his "real" last name. Finally, Malcolm X said:
My father didn't know his last name. My father got his last name from his grandfather and his grandfather got it from his grandfather who got it from the slavemaster. The real names of our people were destroyed during slavery. The last name of my forefathers was taken from them when they were brought to America and made slaves, and then the name of the slavemaster was given, which we refuse, we reject that name today and refuse it. I never acknowledge it whatsoever.
Malcolm X is viewed by some critics as an extremist; however, as Malcolm X evolved, he started to pull away from many of the extremist ideas taught by Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam. Malcolm X's break with Muhammad may have been hastened by his discovery that his idol and leader, a man who advocated celibacy before marriage and faithfulness during marriage, was having affairs with several Nation of Islam women, some of whom had children by him.

Also, after his journey to Mecca, Malcolm X began to view Islam as a more peaceful and all-inclusive religion that included all races, even blonde and blue-eyed whites. In fact, his more moderate views may have precipitated his 1965 assassination.
A brief biography of Malcolm X
Like many of the African-American works we have read so far, Malcolm X's views expressed in this interview echo the profound loss of identity that persists to this day.

As the class delves into Invisible Man, you will see a continuing loss of identity as the young protagonist grasps for his own sense of identity, which remains elusive and illusive throughout the novel.

*

Links to Various Readings, Notes, Exercises, Handouts, Prompts, etc.

Search This Site

My Cloud

Academic Writing (40) American Literature (37) African-American Literature (36) LIT160 Introduction to Literature (33) Syllabus (31) Creative Writing (30) Spring 2008 (30) Prompts (14) Paraphrasing (11) Summarizing and Paraphrasing (11) 19th Century American Literature (10) The Piano Lesson (8) 20th Century American Literature (7) Academic Writing Assignments (7) Persuasive Essay (7) Argumentative Essay (6) August Wilson (5) Character Studies (5) Creative Non-fiction (5) Group Exercise (5) Summary (5) drama (5) Letters (4) Creative Writing--Peer Review (3) Critiquing (3) Outline or Summary (3) Summarizing (3) Worksheets (3) 19th Century Poetry (2) APA Reference List (2) APA documentation (2) APA in-text citations (2) APA internal citations (2) Academic Writing In-class Exercise Notes (2) Academic Writing Syllabus (2) American Literature Syllabus (2) Authority Creditibilty Objectivity Currency Reputation Coverage Relevance (2) Avery (2) Body Paragraphs (2) Brainstorming (2) Characterization (2) Creative Writing Syllabus (2) Creative Writing Terminology (2) Flash Fiction (2) Folksong (2) Langston Hughes (2) Lymon (2) Negro Spirituals (2) Notes (2) President Barack Obama (2) Story Structure (2) Topic selection (2) Topic sentences (2) Trifles (2) Website Evaluation (2) Writing Assignment (2) counterarguments (2) oral tradition (2) 19th Century English Literature (1) 20th Century Poetry (1) A Letter to His Master (1) Abverbs (1) Academic Desk (1) Academic Writing Syllabus Fall 2009 (1) Academic Writing Syllabus Spring 2010 (1) Academic Writing Tasks (1) AcademicDesk.org (1) Alice Walker (1) American Literature Syllabus Fall 2009 (1) American Literature Syllabus Fall 2010 (1) Announcements (1) Assignments (1) Atlanta Compromise (1) Barack Obama (1) Berniece (1) Blues (1) Booker T. Washington (1) Books on Reserve (1) Boy Willie (1) Children's Literature (1) Christmas (1) Code song (1) Comparison and Contrast (1) Conclusion (1) Contact Information (1) Controversial Literature (1) Creative Writing Syllabus Fall 2009 (1) Creative Writing Syllabus Spring 2010 (1) Creative Writing--Self Review (1) Determining Story Structure (1) Dialect (1) Dialogue (1) Dialogue Exercise (1) Dialogue Tags (1) Doaker (1) Elements of Non-fiction (1) Epilogues (1) Essay Structures (1) Explicating a Poem (1) F.A.N.B.O.Y.S. (1) FANBOYS (1) Fiction (1) Five-Paragraph Paper (1) Folk Tales (1) Formal Letter Format (1) Formal Letter Templates (1) Found Poem (1) Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (1) Frederick Douglass (1) Full Text of Nat Turner's Confession (1) Genesis (1) Grace (1) Great Speeches (1) Guide Questions (1) Helen Bannerman (1) Henry Highland Garnet (1) Historical Outline (1) How to Summarize and Paraphrase (1) Introduction (1) Jazz (1) Job Application Letter (1) Kate Chopin (1) Links (1) Little Black Sambo (1) Malcolm X (1) Maretha (1) Martin Luther King Jr. (1) Mary Robison (1) Merged Texts (1) My Bondage and My Freedom (1) Nat Turner (1) Nat Turner's Confession (1) New Christmas (1) New Name (1) New Year (1) Nymph Time (1) Old Christmas (1) Peer Review (1) Plagiarism (1) Poem (1) Point-of-View (1) Private vs Public Writing (1) Purple Prose (1) Questions (1) Questions for Analysis (1) Relevance of Sources (1) Reporting Verbs (1) Response Papers (1) Rough Drafts (1) Rules of Formal Letter Writing--British and American (1) Section I.A (1) Section I.B (1) Section I.C (1) Section I.D (1) Section I.E (1) Section II (1) Section II.A (1) Section II.B (1) Section II.C (1) Section II.D (1) Section II.E (1) Section II.F (1) Section II.G (1) Section II.H (1) Section II.I (1) Section II.J (1) Section II.K (1) Section II.L (1) Section II.M (1) Section II.N (1) Section II.O (1) Section II.P (1) Section III (1) Section III.A (1) Section III.B (1) Section III.C (1) Section III.D (1) Section III.E (1) Section III.F (1) Section IV (1) Self Review (1) Sequels (1) Short story (1) Six Paragraph Paper (1) Song (1) Sorrow Songs (1) Story Analysis (1) Summarizing and Paraphrasing Poems (1) Table of Links (1) The Bible (1) The Color Purple (1) The Killer Husband--Five Versions (1) The Owl at Purdue (1) The Research Challenge (1) The Weary Blues (1) Time Nymph (1) Transitions (1) Types of Characters (1) Types of Plagiarism (1) Types of Webpages (1) W. E. B. Du Bois (1) Walt Whitman (1) Wining Boy (1) Writing Assignments (1) Writing for Different Rhetorical Occasions (1) Yours (1) conjuration (1) coodinating conjunctions (1) email spam (1) hoodoo (1) writing journals (1)