Even Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. noted that the Emancipation Proclamation promised more than it delivered. Both men knew that America had a long way to go before true freedom for African-Americans could be realized. Malcolm X dealt drugs and hung out with the underground African-American artists and musicians during the Harlem Renaissance, one of the greatest periods in African-American cultural history. This section of Malcolm X's Autobiography is one of the most inspiring. Here, a young black man from the South moves his way up the social ladder in the Big Apple. He does not sell out; he does not deign to take on low-wage jobs that would perpetuate poverty. What Malcolm X did was to forge a new identiy for himself and thus for all African-Americans.

Malcolm X saw in the Honorable Elijah Muhammad this concrete alternative identity for African-Americans. Rather than bow down to the oppressors by playing their game, taking their low-wage jobs, and believing in their Christian religion, the African-American Nation of Islam created an alternative reality. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad helped Malcolm X and hundreds of other African-Americans construct an identity that was independent of the white oppressor. The names were changed so that slave names were abandoned. Instead of acknowledging the slave names, African-Americans like Malcolm Little threw off their shackles once and for all and became solely identified with their African past.

Moreover, Malcolm X knew that no matter how well the African-American male did in the white-dominated American culture, he would not be taken seriously. It would indeed not be for many decades later that a man of color was elected president. The same can be said for females of all races, for no American female has ever been taken seriously...

When Malcolm X decides to undertake one of the Five Pillars of Islam and do the Hajj, he undergoes his second greatest spiritual transformation -- the first being his choice to join the Nation of Islam in the first place. Malcolm X had become the foremost leader of the Nation of Islam at the point at which he undertook the Hajj. The troubles between him and the Honorable Elijah Mohammad began brewing as a clear marker of political power. Malcolm X had gone from being a shy boy who found Islam in prison to being an empowered and charismatic leader who many African-Americans came to see speak at meetings.
When Malcolm X made the Hajj pilgrimage, he was amazed at how false the teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad actually were. What Elijah Muhammad was teaching was not, after all, the real Islam. Malcolm X describes his encounter at Mecca as being a soulful awakening, showing him that the true Nation of Islam transcended America altogether. From that moment on, Malcolm X abandoned his post with the Elijah Muhammad group Nation of Islam. Malcolm X's tone and his whole approach towards Civil Rights changed. He did not necessarily become as much of a pacifist as Dr. Martin Luther King. Malcolm X remained completely dedicated to the idea that the white dominated culture had proven itself incapable of viewing the person of color as an equal and therefore a new path was deemed necessary. Malcolm X had the courage to carve out his own path -- a middle road between pacifism and the ridiculous militance of the Nation of Islam.

Work Cited

Malcolm X and Haley, Alex the Autobiography of Malcolm X Ballantine, 1987.