Malcolm X was a leader, an activist, and a revolutionary. However, Malcolm didn’t always see himself this way rather he went through a journey that propelled him from being one of the bottom feeders of society who had no morals, to a righteous man of discipline. The journey illustrated in The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told by Alex Haley can be interpreted with Antonio Gramsci’s theory of Hegemony/Intellectuals and W.E.B. Dubois’s theory on Double Consciousness. Malcolm X was burdened by the hegemony in society because his double consciousness provided him insight to the insurmountable barriers he faced as a black man in America during that time. Malcolm held an inner battle and went through phases of his life because his very identity was never self-determined. It wasn’t until Malcolm accepted all of his parts that he truly utilizes his second sight to become a true organic intellectual whose purpose was to change the world for the better. Malcolm went through three phases in his life that are each extremely crucial to his transformation from a man who’s potential was seen to be limited from birth to a man whose very presence help realized the potential of thousands of other oppressed peoples. The first part of his life consisted of his hatred of the world around him due to the racist system of hegemony that he believed would deny any chance to live a meaningful life. The second part was his first reform when he went to prison which allowed him to channel his hate towards a goal, which was to completely separate his identity from the system of oppression in America. The last part of his life was his final reform where he accepted himself and all his parts, but sought to change the system of hegemony and the hatred it creates for the rest of society.
Malcolm’s life has always been filled with strife from the believed murder of his father, and the splitting apart of his family later on due to his mother’s mental instability induced by the social welfare system during that time. Many things had happened in his life but until a certain event happened I do not believe Malcolm truly realized that these events weren’t just chance misfortune, but they were the result of shortcomings of the society he lived in. Gramsci defines hegemony as “the spontaneous consent given by the great masses of the population to the general direction imposed on social life by the dominant fundamental group; this consent is historically caused by the prestige (and consequent confidence) which the dominant group enjoys because its position and function in the world of production ”, and as the “apparatus of state coercive power which legally enforces discipline on those groups that do not consent either actively or passively” (Gramsci, p. 12). Malcolm didn’t truly realize the hegemonic system he was placed under until the event where his English teacher asked what he wanted to pursue as a career in the future. Malcolm wanted to be a lawyer but his teacher responded “One of life’s first needs is for us to be realistic” and for Malcolm he had to be realistic considering he was a “ni**er” and according to his teacher that prevented him from becoming anything better than a carpenter despite Malcolm’s aspirations to be a lawyer (X, p.40). This is when Malcolm realized that he was at the mercy of the hegemonic system of prejudice which predetermined his fate in America as a black man. During this time Malcolm X started to also truly question his identity and what he defined himself as despite white society seeing him only as a ni**er. Malcolm stated that he “didn’t have much feeling about being a Negro, because he was trying so hard, in every way he could, to be white” (X, p.35). W.E.B. Dubois’ theory on double consciousness states that a black man simply wants it to be possible to be “both a Negro and an American without being cursed and spit upon by his fellows, without having the doors of opportunity closed roughly in his face” (Dubois, p. 5). This contrasts and relates to Malcolm’s early way of thinking because in a sense he wanted to be an American despite being a Negro, rather than being an American while being a Negro. Malcolm was originally disconnected from the reality of prejudice, but after his realization he rejects the possibility of being accepted as an American. He chooses to live life within the confines of being a Negro whose potential is stifled and limited in the harsh reality he resides in. After his realization of his stifled potential he went down a path which consisted of him dropping out of school, and moving to Boston to live with his sister. During this time, he discovered in Boston for an African American man there was more freedom and possibilities, but he didn’t realize until later that these opportunities often meant participating in amoral activities such as gambling, drug trafficking, prostituting, swindling, and even armed robbery. His early life was filled with hatred for society and he had no qualms about taking advantage of others because he saw it as restitution for the oppression he faced. Malcolm lived as a victim and a criminal at the same time. He is conscious of his role as oppressed Negro shunned from chasing his dreams, and he is conscious of his role of a perpetuator of evils and crimes because of his belief there is nothing else fulfilling out there for him.
Eventually Malcolm’s way of life caught up with him and he was arrested for an armed robbery on which he was incarcerated and sent to prison which would be another crucial turning point in his life. During Malcolm’s time in prison he got the nickname “Satan” for denouncing Christianity and his anti-religious attitude, and this way one way he rejected a part of the hegemony of society by rejecting the white man’s Christianity (X, p.133). During this time however he met another inmate named Bimbi who carried himself differently from other Negros, he knew and this drew Malcolm to wanting to become his friend due to his wisdom. Bimbi had motivated Malcolm to start reading more. Malcolm attributes a large part of his success today to going to prison as stated “I don't think anybody ever got more out of going to prison than I did. In fact, prison enabled me to study far more intensively than I would have if my life had gone differently and I had attended some college. I imagine that one of the biggest troubles with colleges is there are too many distractions, too much panty-raiding, fraternities, and boola-boola and all of that. Where else but in a prison could I have attacked my ignorance by being able to study intensely sometimes as much as fifteen hours a day X, p.154)?” Education was essential to building his character and the common theme with overcoming hegemony is to defeat part of the systems it has in place. By studying and surpassing limits imposed on him by society, Malcolm X has reformed his identity to an organic intellectual which is knowledgeable about the system he is under, but also knowing he has the ability to counter that system. Also in jail Malcolm X was visited by his siblings who had joined the Nation of Islam and eventually after Malcolm was free he also joined the Nation of Islam and worked directly under the leader, Elijah Muhammed. While at the Nation of Islam Malcolm started to form a different identity, and that the identity of a leader. For a long time in Malcolm’s life he tried reconciling his Negro and American identity, but The Nation of Islam convinced him that the combination of the two identities were impossible and would lead to destruction. This is fueled by the ideal the entire white race was to be considered “devils… without exception” (X, p.138). W.E.B. Dubois states within his writings on the topic of his theory of Double Consciousness that “The history of the American Negro is the history of Strife- this longing to attain self-conscious manhood, to merge his double self into a better truer self” (Dubois, p. 5). As Malcolm becomes more and more deeply involved in the Nation of Islam the further away he separates himself from America’s whiteness, and he rejects the society that he lives. Malcolm no longer believes that the problem is with the system but the problem is the white people who orchestrate the system of hegemonic oppression. He believes there is no longer such a thing as integration for now he truly believes that it is impossible to join together with a white society that he considers fundamentally evil. This leads Malcolm to spread the teachings of Elijah Muhammed and the Nation of Islam. These ideals involved: loving your blackness despite being taught to hate it by white society, separation from America for blacks, and retaliation if attacked by whites instead of accepting the injustice of oppression enforced by violence.
The final part of Malcolm X’s journey was his final reform which allowed him to erase his hatred and become willing to attempt change the hegemony of America through peace. During Malcolm’s time at the Nation of Islam he had started to make enemies and he also uncovered some truths about the true morality of the religious. This caused a rupture in Malcolm’s relationship with the Nation which lead to him leaving. The same year, Malcolm X decided to leave on a pilgrimage to holy land of Mecca in which he discovered the teachings of Elijah Muhammed to be different from actual traditional Islam. At this point in time before he went on his pilgrimage he still believed that white people were fundamentally evil and integration with them was impossible. During that time he came across very kind individuals that changed his views on white people, and he started to believe again that it’s possible that the system of hegemony should be fought instead of just channeling hatred towards a specific group because of their skin color. Malcolm X stated that “In America, "white man" meant specific attitudes and actions toward the black man, and toward all other non-white men, but in the Muslim world, he had seen that men with white complexions were more genuinely brotherly than anyone else had ever been. That morning was the start of a radical alteration in his whole outlook about "white" men” (X, p281). Malcolm had then converted fully to traditional Islamic beliefs and