Brendan McBride

Message to the Grass Roots by Malcolm X

Introduction
o November 1963
o Thesis: Malcolm Xs use of strong language, tone, and
repetition encouraged a violent revolution.
Strong language
o 2nd class citizens, ex-slaves
o This is one reason I am always anxious when I pick up a
book, article, or even watch a visual narrative of any African
whom the white world views as militant, outspoken, or
anti-white.
Tone
o Encourages violence not a peaceful revolution. Contrast to
MLK
o Black revolution vs. Negro Revolution
Negro revolution
Is nonviolent- does not work
Only for desegregation
o Unites all black people despite other differences
Religious, political
o Common enemy- the white man
o Example of unity- Bandung Conference
Repetition- Revolution
o American Revolution- 1776, French Revolution, Russian
Revolution
White nationalism
o Revolutions in Asia and Africa
Black nationalism
o Revolutions based on land and got it by bloodshed
o Theres no such thing as a nonviolent revolution
o Land is basis for all independence, freedom, justice, and
equality

o bloody, hostile, no compromise

1. What historical/cultural connections to the text have you found so
far?
2. Which details/passages of the text will you be looking at?
3. How does the historical/cultural information you are looking at
shape your reading of the text?
4. How does the text shape your reading of the historical/cultural
period?
Possible Thesis Questions to Answer
1) How, in obvious and not so obvious ways, did the culture of the
time affect how the piece was written?
Malcolm x use of tone, strong language, and repetition encouraged
a violent revolution.
2) How might you define, in specific terms, the culture of the time?
3) How do/did some of these texts interact (including or beyond the
civil rights pieces)? What cultural movements did they represent,
respectively?
Works Cited
Raymond A. Winbush. Malcolm X: A Living Icon in His Own
Words. The Journal of African American History 100.2 (2015): 290293.
Web.
http://www.jstor.org.pallas2.tcl.sc.edu/stable/pdf/10.5323/jafriame
rhist.100.2.0290.pdf?acceptTC=true
This is one reason I am always anxious when I pick up a book,
article, or even watch a visual narrative of any African whom the
white world views as militant, outspoken, or anti-white.
Miller, Keith D.. Plymouth Rock Landed on Us: Malcolm X's Whiteness
Theory as a Basis for Alternative Literacy. College Composition and
Communication 56.2 (2004): 199222. Web...
http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/4140647.pdf