Donald Hall

Learning to Read

Born Malcolm Little on May 19, 1925, Malcolm X was one of the most articulate and powerful leaders of black America during the 1960s. A street hustler convicted of robbery in 1946, he spent seven years in prison, where he educated himself and became a disciple of Elijah Muhammad, founder of the Nation of Islam. In the days of the civil rights movement, Malcolm X emerged as the leading spokesman for black separatism, a philosophy that urged black Americans to cut political, social, and economic ties with the white community. After a pilgrimage to Mecca, the capital of the Muslim world, in 1964, he became an orthodox Muslim, adopted the Muslim name El Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, and distanced himself from the teachings of the black Muslims. He was assassinated in 1965. In the following excerpt from his autobiography (1965), coauthored with Alex Haley and published the year of his death, Malcolm X describes his self-education.

To Build a House

Gazing at Mays blossoms, imagining bounty of Mclntosh, I praise old lilacs rising in woods beside cellarholes; I praise toads. I predict the telephone call that reports the friend from childhood cold on a staircase. I praise children, grandchildren, and just-baked bread. I praise fried Spam and onions on slices of Wonder Bread; I praise your skin. I predict the next twenty years, days of mourning, long walks growing slow and painful. I reject twenty years of mid-life; I reject rejections. The one day stands unmoving in sun and shadow.

The Day I Was Older

The clock on the parlor wall, stout as a mariners clock, disperses the day with immaculate ticking. All night it tolls the half-hour, and the hours number, to sail over fathoms of sleep with resolute measure, approaching the poles and crossing the equator nightly. Warm in the dark next to your breathing, below the thousand favored stars, I feel horns of gray water heave underneath us, and the ships pistons pound as the voyage continues over the limited sea.