Education and Enlightenment in Booker T. Washington and Malcolm X
Though both Booker T. Washington and Malcolm X depict their struggles and how that struggle spurred their growth through education, their audiences shape how they present the ideologies that came from their struggle, leading to vastly different perspectives on resistance and racism. Washington describes the ways he sought education despite his difficult life circumstances, the importance of knowledge, and how it shaped how he viewed the world. Washington describes his desire to attend the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute: “Although I had no idea where it was, or how many miles away, or how I was going to reach it; I remembered only that I was on fire constantly with one ambition, and that was to go to Hampton” (Washington, 29). In order to reach this goal, he went to night-school lessons despite long hours in the coal mine and the trek from work to school. Washington’s drive shows how much he values education, and the work he willingly put into achieving it. His later succ...