Pesistence by African American Leaders

The consistent character to continue to pursue a goal in life regardless of the episodic struggles mankind inevitably faces is an attitude only ambitious people have. In as much as everyone wants to be promoted in life, not everyone loves the process to achievement because it is extremely easy to lose hope in the pursuit of that goal. In the essays “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King Jr., “Graduation” by Maya Angelou and “Homemade Education” by Malcolm X, the authors refused to let their situations define who they were even though all odds were against them.

Because Martin Luther King Jr., Maya Angelou and Malcolm X refused to remain discouraged, they were able to rise above their situations by their continuous pursuit of what they each believed in. Martin Luther King Jr. was able to pursue his freedom through non-violent civil right movement, Malcolm X who made use of his idle prison time gained knowledge that helped enhance the African American society and Maya Angelou became a prominent person from discouragement.

Persistence by Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X

Martin Luther King Jr and Malcom X showed persistence by the patience they endured in the process of achieving their goals. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X in their effort to achieve their goals exhibited the most essential factor to attain success which is, “persistence – the determination never to allow your energy or enthusiasm to be dependent by the discouragement that must inevitably come”. As stated by Acclaimed American poet, James Whitcomb Riley.

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Martin Luther King X showed persistence by never giving up hope up in what he believed in. For Martin Luther King, the many times his peaceful protest had to be postponed did not deter him but instead he still persevered until he was at his destination.

The statement “we endured postponement after postponement… after justice too long delayed is justice denied” (King) showed the countless times Martin Luther King had endured disappoint by the inequality and unfairness among Americans. King had hoped that the white folks would understand and see brotherhood among all Americans than just pretend to support and understand the African Americans and constantly ask them to ‘wait’ to have their freedom.

(King). On the other hand, Malcom X, showed patience in what he believed in by continually having “three to four hours of sleep” (Malcom X) to teach himself to read and broaden his knowledge using the glowing light from outside his prison room. Malcom X in his slow painstaking, ragged handwriting, he copied into [his] tablet everything down to the punctuation marks. . He deprived himself of sleep to read different books that made him a little bit more sensitive to deafness and dumbness that was afflicting the black race in America. (…) (Malcom X). Malcolm X’s perseverance to know more that led him to gain an enormous amount of understanding of the African American history.

Maya Angelou and Martin Luther King Jr.

Maya Angelou and Martin Luther King Jr. show persistence by coming out of discouragement after she was emotionally crushed from Edward Donleavy’s words whiles the latter fought for racial equality for African American. The devastating speech of Edward Donleavy reminded the crowd the socially demeaning status that limits the capabilities of black people. Maya Angelou in her writings states “Hadn’t he heard the white folks? We couldn’t be” (Angelou). This shows that the educational system at that time used a strategy to limit blacks, by mentally making them believe they could not be future academic elites. “. However, Henry Reed brought words of encouragement to Maya Angelou through his uplifting speech “to be or not to be” (Angelou). Having faith that black people “could be,” Reed advised both the graduates and the audience to be “builders”, “doers” and “leaders” (Angelou) and raised their spirits by singing Negro national anthem. Maya Angelou could have still said to herself it was not going to be possible for her but instead of remaining on the ground and staying still forever , she summoned all courage, overcame her fears and rose to her feet with her head up high. Martin Luther King fought for equality for black people. In “Letter from Birmingham jail” as he tries to persuade the eight clergy men to see hope in unity and stop segregation as it ‘distorts the soul and gives the segregator a sense of superiority and the segregated a false sense of inferiority (Martin Luther King Jr.) Martin Luther King called out to the church to stop being hypocrites as “[he] has been so greatly disappointed with the white church and its leadership” (King), for their participation in social segregation. King highlights that some churches have accepted unjust laws over morality by encouraging their members to support segregationist laws. Also, by remaining silent and disregarding the issue of social segregation, they have contributed fairly segregation in the country.

Persistence in pursuing education

Maya Angelou and Malcom X show persistence by both pursuing education as Maya Angelou still became a prominent person regardless of the racial segregation while Malcom X used the glowing light that came into his room to read during his curfew hours. Maya Angelou was faced with racism and the struggles of being a black person, yet she saw beyond what white folks thought of her and became a prominent person. Angelou’s school lacked essential resources for an effective education as it had “rusty roles” represented by permanent recreational equipment unlike the school for white folks “Lafayette County Training School which distinguished itself by having neither a lawn nor hedges nor climbing ivy. (…) (Angelou) yet, she made maximum use of the little she had. Malcom X showed persistence using the glowing light which was cast in front of his door to read his book during curfew time. Only a determined individual willing to go an extra mile could would go out of their comfort zone to get an education in prison at curfew when he could have been comfortable enjoying the warmth of his comfy bed . Malcolm X persisted on learning no matter what the circumstance was, he mentions: “At one-hour intervals the night guards paced past every room. Each time I heard the approaching footsteps, I jumped into bed and feigned sleep. And as soon as the guard passed, I got back out of bed onto the floor area of that light glow, where I would read for another fifty-eight until the guard approach again” (Malcom X). This is the character of a persistent person especially one in prison. Probably the last thought on the mind of any individual in prison is learning to read and write. Moreover, prison is not a luxurious environment conducive enough for anyone to gain an education, yet, Malcom X who had no professor for guidance acquired tremendous amount of knowledge by teaching himself. This goes beyond to show that if he had been to exposed to quality education from qualified teachers and had resources available at his disposal for effective learning, he definitely would have been be a World changer.

The three authors were persistent in different ways. Martin Luther King Jr. was persistent because he was able to fight, Malcolm X was persistent by demonstrating that he could work under harsh circumstances just to pursue education which will benefit the whole African American race and Angelou showed that she was persistent by making sure she was able to pull herself out of discouragement and believed in what she believes without letting others change her mind.

Works Cited

1. Angelou, Maya. “Graduation.” The Blair Reader: Exploring Issues and Ideas.
2. Laurie G. Kirszner, Stephen R. Mandell. 9th Edition. New York: Pearson, 2018.
3. King, Martin Luther. “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” The Blair Reader: Exploring Issues and
4. Ideas. Laurie G. Kirszner, Stephen R. Mandell. 9th Edition. New York: Pearson, 2018.
5. Malcolm X. “A Homemade Education.” The Blair Reader: Exploring Issues and Ideas.
6. Laurie G. Kirszner, Stephen R. Mandell. 9th Edition. New York: Pearson, 2018.