Education in "Up from Slavery" and “The Autobiography of Malcolm X ''

Booker T. Washington’s “Up from Slavery” and Malcolm X’s reader autobiography “The Autobiography of Malcolm X '' are both autobiographies from influential figures in the context of the Black Power and Civil Rights movement. However, the characters in both stories have distinct differences in their political and racial beliefs. These differences in attitudes are apparent in their respective autobiographies (which I will write about), but one similarity in particular sticks out. This similarity is education. The characters in both "Up from Slavery" and “The Autobiography of Malcolm X ' illustrate how education has shaped and initiated their life. With Booker T. Washington, education was the thing he wanted since he was a kid. In “The Autobiography of Malcolm X", education became something that he discovered as an adult that ultimately transformed his viewpoints and attitudes later in life. 

In Malcolm X’s reader autobiography, the main character details his time in jail- the final resolution preaching the importance of learning African American history as a black person. The format of the autobiography takes the reader along the main character and his journey, writing, reading, and learning. He believes that education opened up a new world to him in many ways. For example, he says “No university would ask any student to devour literature as I did when their new world opened to me of being able to read and understand. Reading and education helped him understand; reading helped him understand the history of his people and the future for himself. Reading even helped him shift his time in prison from a horrible and cruel thing to an experience that liberated him. This belief of liberation is also shown through his reflections in jail on page 1863 when he says “You couldn't have gotten me out of books with a wedge. Between Mr. Mujammed teachings, my correspondence, my visitors- usually Ella and Reginald- and my reading of books, months passed without even thinking about being imprisoned. In fact, up to then, I never had been so truly free in my life”. The main character in Malcolm X's autobiography discovered education, and it opened his life. This is synonymous with Booker T. Washington’s autobiography as he focuses much of his philosophy and autobiography on the journey toward education. 

However, two major differences in Booker T. Washington’s autobiography contrast the experiences in Malcolm X’s autobiography. These differences are location and timing. To start, Booker T. Washington had been working toward education ever since he was a child, “The picture of several dozen boys and girls in a schoolroom engaged in study made a deep impression upon me, and I had the feeling that to get into a schoolhouse and study in this way would be about the same as getting into paradise”. Education became the foundation for Booker T. Washington’s life, and much of his decisions later in life relied on this fundamental belief in education. This contrasts Malcom X’s autobiography where access to education “started” the life of the character in Malcom X’s. Because of this difference in timing, I believe that also affected the attitudes and beliefs of the characters. For example, Booker T. Washington’s autobiography is after the Reconstruction Era. This means that education at a higher institution was more accessible and realistic. This accessibility contrasts the lack of accessibility for the character in Malcolm X’s autobiography who was in jail. That leads me to my next point, which is the difference in location between the two characters. While Booker T. Washington received his education from an educational institution, the character in Malcolm X’s autobiography received his from jail. The institution where Booker T. Washington received his education from a primarily white demographic might have led him to have less severe and harsh attitudes toward white people. He valued education, and the people at the institution shared that view.

In Malcolm X’s autobiography, he receives his education in prison during a time when Malcolm X and the Black Power Movement were prevalent. Attitudes toward white people for him were not like Booker T. Washington’s. They were almost the complete opposite. While Booker T. Washington strove for assimilation and acceptance from white people, the character in Malcolm X’s autobiography sees white people as the devil. This difference in viewpoint would essentially be due to the difference in historical backstory and timing of education. Although education became something that changed both Booker T. Washington's and the character of Malcolm X's life, the education they received and what they did with that knowledge reflects the difference in context in which the characters lived.