50 Spiritual Classics Second Edition (50 Classics) by Tom Butler-Bowdon

Author:Tom Butler-Bowdon [Butler-Bowdon, Tom]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Quercus
Published: 2016-12-14T00:00:00+00:00

Invisible boy

At the age of 13, Malcolm was expelled from his school for bad behavior and ordered to go to a reform school in another part of Michigan. He was fostered out to a white family who managed to get him sent to a better school, and he entered the seventh grade. One of few black students, Malcolm was a novelty and strangely popular. Academically he excelled, always being in the top three of his class, and was elected class president. He was trying in every way to be white, but full acceptance always eluded him. The most embarrassing times were school dances, when it was made clear that he could not dance with white girls.

He announced to his teacher that he wanted to be a lawyer. At this time, being a waiter or a bootblack was considered a good, respectable profession for a “Negro.” Blacks were not even employed in car plants. The teacher said to him: “A lawyer—that’s no realistic goal for a nigger. You need to think about something you can be.” It was suggested that he go into carpentry. It dawned on Malcolm that to both his foster family and his teachers, he was more like a pet or a mascot: “They didn’t give me credit for having the same sensitivity, intellect, and understanding that they would have been ready and willing to recognize in a white boy in my position … Thus they never did really see me.”

He decided to leave and live with his aunt Ella in Boston.

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