Sergio Mariscal

Mr. Lucero
Frederick Douglass and Malcolm X
Have you ever wanted something extremely much because someone told you, you could
not have it? Well, many face obstacles in life, but Frederick Douglass and Malcolm X had similar
obstacles that had to be overcome differently. In this case both had the urge to be educated.
Frederick Douglass was a slave trying to learn about the real world and was willing to do
anything to educate himself. Similarly, Malcolm X was a prisoner who wanted to learn how to
read and write, however he wanted to have an impact in black separatism. Although their
complications were both surpassed, they were done in different ways and had similar yet
different inspirations to do so. They achieved and went passed the limitations that were set
towards them in order to become educated and intelligent to try and influence/change the world
around them. They knew little about education and they wanted to be literate which would soon
impact the society all around the world.
Frederick Douglass was a slave who was clueless about the world like all other slaves
were. His masters wife once began to teach him how to read but was influenced by her husband
to keep slaves away from learning. After finding out he wasnt allowed to learn, he developed an
urge to self-educate himself and become literate. He tried to find any way he could to learn how
to write even if it involved tricking kids into giving him writing lessons. He then began learning
how to read which opened up a new world for him that made him realize how the government
put restrictions on slaves and how there were abolitionists of slavery. Malcolm Xs background
was similar yet different to Douglass.

Malcolm X was a prisoner who wanted to educate himself in any way possible and
become a follower of Muhammad. He managed to accomplish both of these in his long days of
prison by going to the library of Norfolk Prison Colony School. He didnt know many words so
in order to read, he needed to learn, which he did by copying all the pages of a dictionary. After
being fluent in reading, he began reading every day and noticed the injustice towards blacks and
how cruel the whites were to the slaves.
When both Malcolm and Douglass learned how to read, their views of the world changed
similarly. They noticed how the government restricted education from blacks in order to keep
racial superiority. They saw how other races were in power because they were more literate and
had more education. Both now knew select groups shouldnt be prevented from education and
that if they gain more literacy, they can become as superior. Although they were not alive in the
same period of time, they had the same views on education and literacy. But what is education,
and is literacy important?
Education is a topic that is always debated on and many mistake it with memorization.
Some believe that you are educated or intelligent when you can remember a specific thing,
but that is not what intelligence is. Intelligence is a skill you possess, not your ability to
memorize something from a book and have it be forgotten. Intelligence is a balance between
street smarts, as in having common sense and making your own decisions, and being able to
learn without having the topic be forgotten within the following week. It can be described as a
thirst for knowledge, which both Malcolm X and Frederick Douglass had because they urged so
much for it. They were very intelligent and had all of the qualities of intelligence.

Oppressive governments try to keep education away from select groups/races in order to
stay superior to them. They almost accomplished this by keeping blacks as slaves and have them
be clueless about the outside world. There were many abolitionist and many slaves who rebelled.
Frederick Douglass did not necessarily rebel, but he found his ways to self-educate himself in
order to catch up with what was going on outside of what slaves knew. Malcolm X was not held
against education in prison, yet he also wanted to self-educate himself because he knew there
were more opportunities to discover other than what he already knew. This led to Malcolm X
becoming a spokesman about black separatism, which was what the government was trying to
avoid. Both their fights to gain literacy have shaped society to what it is today. Frederick
Douglass was influential in part of slaves freedom and Malcolm X was influential in black
separatism.
Frederick Douglass and Malcolm X both achieved the title of intelligent by selfeducating themselves in order to achieve their goals. They had different goals that led to be
closely alike. Both wanted independence for blacks. Although, Douglass wanted freedom from
slavery, yet Malcolm X wanted to fight for the rights of black people. Both were influential
figures and accomplished their goals by having that thirst for knowledge and actually doing
anything possible in order to educate them. Education was a huge importance to them, but what
does it mean to you?