In prison, Malcolm X learned how to direct his will, his human agency, towards personal empowerment. Personal empowerment and self-education led to his forging ties with powerful Black leaders. Therefore, Malcolm X presents human agency as being instrumental to creating positive social change. As the author points out, genuine anger was transmuted into the ultimate goal of achieving universal human rights. Universal human rights was also the main concern of W.E.B. DuBois, as Garth E. Pauley points out. W.E.B. DuBois was keenly aware of the devastating fact that many who supported the 14th and 15th Amendments were also willing to denigrate women. It was as if Americans felt the need to distinguish between racism and sexism. Supporters of the 14th and 15th Amendments held backwards views about women, and were willing to accept the outlandish notion that women were incapable of voting. Excluding fifty percent of the population from political empowerment was anathema to human rights, W.E.B. DuBois was trying to say. On the other hand, the so-called Southern Strategy segregated racism and sexism in a different way: by supporting the right of white women to vote but not blacks. W.E.B. DuBois tried to present a reasoned argument that showed how no suffrage could be considered universal unless all adult Americans regardless of gender or race were included. Woman suffrage "would have practical benefits for the Black race" and would also empower all women (Pauley p. 384). Human agency...

DuBois created consciousness changes.
The change in consciousness that Edna Pontellier experiences in Kate Chopin's the Awakening has a tragic impact on the protagonist. Ultimately Edna cannot navigate fully through mainstream society as a liberated woman. With too many formidable barriers to personal and gender-based empowerment, Edna commits suicide. She dies like a martyr, though, committed to her core ideals. She did use her human agency to create change, both in her own heart and by being an example to others. Malcolm X was also keenly aware of the fact that life cannot necessarily contain the power of change. In his death, Malcolm X also became a martyr for a movement that demonstrated the urgency of empowerment. By channeling human agency into a cohesive strategy for African-American activism, Malcolm X helped foster an independent spirit within his community that was "independent of the white man," (p. 5). W.E.B. DuBois felt the same way, as Pauley points out. Human agency must be an alchemical process, one that transforms the dross of subjugation and oppression into the finer gold of spiritual liberation, personal empowerment, and social change.

Works Cited

Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. Ed. Nancy Walker. Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism. 2nd ed. Boston: Bedford, 2000.

Malcolm X selections from the Autobiography of Malcolm X

Pauley, Garth E.W.E.B. DuBois on Woman Suffrage