Malcolm X: Illustrator And Photography

Auto Biography Of Malcolm X
By, Alex Haley
Illustrator/Photographer:
Main Topic of this book: After the government tears apart his family and he can no longer bear the racism of his all-white high school in Michigan, Malcolm flees to Boston and Harlem, where he sinks deep into a life of crime. From hustling, drug addiction and armed violence in America's black ghettos Malcolm X turned, in a dramatic prison conversion, to the puritanical fervor of the Black Muslims. As their spokesman he became identified in the white press as a terrifying teacher of race hatred; but to his direct audience, the oppressed American blacks, he brought hope and self-respect.
Characters:
Malcolm X - The hero of the novel. The book is about his life and times.
Earl Little - Malcolm X's father. He is a priest in a Baptist church. Besides his work as a priest, he is also an active member of and organizer for the organization founded by Marcus Garvey. Earl Little and his family is constantly threatened and harassed by Ku Klux Klan members due to his activities as a member of Garvey's organization. Yet he continues to organize the blacks in and around his village, till the Klan members kill him.
Louise Little - Malcolm X's mother. She is a strong woman who tries to keep her family together after her husband's death. But the constant interference from the Welfare Department during the depression years breaks her
Malcolm X the protagonist is looking back into his past and narrating incidents to Alex Haley, who becomes his close friend and confidante during the course of writing the book. The book can be broadly divided into four parts. The first part deals with his childhood in Lansing. Malcolm loses his father Rev. Earl Little when he is hardly four or five years old. Since his mother is unable to get a job anywhere due to his father's reputation (he was a member of Marcus Garvey's. U.N.I.A feared and despised by the local white population), she is forced to turn to the Welfare Department for charity. Due to constant meddling of the Welfare Department into their private affairs, the family breaks up. While Malcolm is sent away to a foster family, his younger siblings are sent away to a close friend's who agree to take them in. His older brother and sister continue to stay in their house. For young Malcolm, the break up of his family and his mother eventually