92 pages • 3 hours read
Malcolm X, Alex HaleyThe Autobiography of Malcolm X
Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 1965A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Reading, Discussion & Quiz Questions
READING CHECK
1. Why do the Littles leave their home in Omaha?
Answer: to escape the Ku Klux Klan/white supremacist terrorists
2. Why does Malcolm no longer live with his mother after age 12 or 13?
Answer: She is sent to a state mental hospital
3. Whom does Malcolm describe as “the first really proud black woman I had ever seen in my life” (39)?
Answer: Ella
4. What do Malcolm and Shorty have in common, causing Shorty to take an immediate liking to him?
Answer: They are both from Michigan/Lansing.
5. What is Malcolm’s job at the Roseland State Ballroom?
Answer: He shines shoes.
6. What is the name of the hairstyle Malcolm adopts by straightening his hair with burning lye?
Answer: a conk
Discussion Suggestion: Use the above question to introduce discussion on how the conk operates as a symbol in the book. Note how Malcolm attaches metaphorical significance to conking his hair, in the sense that it is an extraordinarily painful act of self-mutilation performed in an effort to assimilate into white culture.
7. Where does Malcolm meet Laura?
Answer: at the drugstore where he works as a soda jerk
QUIZ
1. Who do the authorities say is responsible for Earl’s death?
A) the Ku Klux Klan
B) the Black Legion
C) No one—they rule it accidental
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