lso may be given history texts that ignore the contributions of their people, sociology texts with distorted perspectives on black life, and other material that does not relate to their experience or their understanding of the world. Once a child has been exposed to such material, he or she may begin to have a crisis of identity and also to withdraw from the learning experience that is creating it. In the long run, society produces a generation that is alienated from the learning experience and from society itself. The benefits of an education miss such a generation, leaving the members uncertain of their social identity, unemployable, and increasingly angry.
The vital importance of education is emphasized again and again in The Autobiography of Malcolm X, as is the need for a better understanding of the development of a black identity in American society. Malcolm X grew up in a world where being black was a handicap, and indeed where being black was denigrated. It could lead to one's death at the hands of an angry mob, something he knew from his childhood. At the time, this implanted in his mind a subtle sense of shame at his blackness, something he could not have articulated but which influenced his development as a human being and his choices as a young man. He tried to be as white as he could be both culturally and physically, a route which led him into a criminal life that only emphasized his lack of a positive identity in the white world. Like many other young black men of his generation, he fell into a certain stereotypical mold imposed on him by the view white society had of black people. As he emphasizes in the story of his life, he acted out that stereotype and put on the mask society had made for him. He wore his hair straight because white people had straight hair, making him ashamed of his natural hair. He dressed like other young men of his generation and behaved as they did. He preferred women who were lig...