Similar Stories, Different Details

 I think we all had that "A-ha" moment when we read Malcolm X's autobiography and noticed similar experiences to BTW's autobiography. That being said, there are also details that differ from each other and we will be going in depth between each detail. 

   Let's start chronologically, all the way back to their early lives. BTW starts his autobiography with "I WAS born a slave" (p. 1, Up From Slavery) while Malcolm X's editor states "Malcolm, after a successful middle-school career, headed for Boston. There he enjoyed a life of heady and sometimes criminal activity" (p. 1859, The Autobiography of Malcolm X). With BTW, he was brought into this world as a slave and had to endure the lifestyle that came with it throughout his childhood before getting his freedom from slavery. With Malcolm X, his family fell apart during his childhood, and without anyone to look up to, he was brought into a life of crime before getting arrested. We can see that in their earliest years, they had to work as a child before getting their inspiration for education but in the opposite orders.

    BTW had to work as a slave, get freed from it, then works in a salt-furnace job which he discovers numbers and symbols. In his own words, he says, "From the time that I can remember having any thoughts about anything, I recall that I had an intense longing to learn to read. I determined, when quite a small child, that, if I accomplished nothing else in life, I would in some way get enough education to enable me to read common books and newspapers" (p. 18, Up From Slavery). The key note of this is to notice BTW's motivation for education happened after obtaining his freedom from slavery. 

    Malcolm X had his father killed by white men and his mother brought into a mental asylum before going into a life of crime and getting put into prison where he discovers his motivation for learning to read. "It had really begun back in the Charlestown Prison, when Bimbi first made me feel envy of his stock of knowledge...I saw that the best thing I could do was get hold of a dictionary--to study, to learn some words" (p. 1862 The Autobiography of Malcolm X). The key note of this is to see how Malcolm's journey to reading and writing was after being locked up in Charlestown Prison. In both of their autobiographies, they build up an interest towards reading and education given their harsh childhood backgrounds.  During their childhood they had also been in a state of solitary, with their thirst for knowledge being the source of their freedom. 

Another comparison that I had noticed was their journey to becoming famous African American idols for the black community. I think it's common knowledge that BTW and Malcolm X were famous but their journey to reach that position is very different from one another. BTW's autobiography features him being able to write to scholars and people of high power, which led to his success and authority as an African American figure. BTW discretely hides this in his autobiography, "In the midst of the discussion which was going on concerning my Atlanta speech, I received the letter which I give below, from Dr. Gilman, the President of Johns Hopkins University, who had been made chairman of the judges of award in connection with the Atlanta Exposition" (p. 161 Up from Slavery). BTW gives Dr. Gilman this dramatic entrance with his titles and connections before showing the letter to the reader (which in a way feels like boasting), to further emphasize the importance of the letter and the sender.

Malcolm X's autobiography features his findings through debating and giving a speech in Norfolk Prison Colony. While it isn't to people with PhDs and connections with the Atlanta Exposition, Malcolm X  would be presenting to his first ever audience about his findings that even history scholars would dare to neglect. Malcolm X was very courageous and he was nervous about debating in front of a prison as quoted, "I've told how debating was a weekly event there at the Norfolk Prison Colony. My reading had my mind like steam under pressure. Some way, I had to start telling the white man about himself to his face. I decided I could do this by putting my name down to debate" (p 1871, Malcolm X). We see both figures share their message towards an audience however the difference comes from the social class of the audience. 

Overall, there are many steps in BTW and Malcolm X's journey that are very similar to one another which makes their stories feel almost identical but these key differences in each step helped build their story, leading into their legacy as African American leaders.