Frederick Douglass and Malcom X - Literacy

It showed the effect when he revealed the boys actually did play an important role in his development of literacy. .
             The word "bread" showed the importance the poor placed on food was equivalent to the importance he placed on knowledge. Since he did not receive the education white boys did, he felt deprived - he longed and craved education, in the same way the poor and hungry craved food. Douglass cherished reading as life-giving; to him, books were human essentials. Books gave Douglass the faith that he would be free from the cage of slavery.
             Malcolm X's search for knowledge was more self-sustaining than Douglass'. Malcolm X knew basic rules of literature, but became a reading buff after being arrested for burglary. In the prison library, he read a limitless amount of books, especially about history and philosophy. He carefully copied every word in the dictionary, down to the last punctuation mark. He was determined to be highly educated, even if it killed him. Interestingly, Malcolm X's prison surroundings helped him progress in his cognitive skills. .
             Malcolm X appreciated the fact that he achieved knowledge and had no regrets as Frederick Douglass did. Malcolm X said literacy "freed him" and "attacked his ignorance." These sayings suggested that he felt enlightened, as if his ignorance had held him hostage. Through books he learned the cruelty blacks grieved through for centuries, and it opened his eyes and motivated him to take the bull by the horns. He realized that he could arise from behind his prison bars as a fighter for African-Americans' rights and try to break down racial barriers. .
             The difference in standpoint for these two men is determined almost completely by the time periods in which they lived. Frederick Douglass had practically no freedom whatsoever as an African-American in early nineteenth-century America. He was a slave and was treated poorly.