Oprah And Malcolm X Essay, Research Paper

The lives of Malcolm X and Oprah Winfery have some similarities’s but mostly

differences. The biggest similarities is that they are both very accomplished

black American’s. Malcolm X was a hustler, robber and a very messed up child.

After going to jail he decided to turn his life around. In a few ways Oprah

was the same way. She had struggled with her weight all of her life. Finally

she decided to do something about it.

When Malcolm was a child his family didn’t have very much money. They lived

in a run-down house with many brother’s and sister’s. To make matters worse,

they were a black family. When he was about fifteen years old his father was

run over by a cart. He was nearly cut in half! The police said it was an

accident but, Malcolm and his family knew it wasn’t. After his father died

things went down hill. His mother was so upset by his death that she couldn’t

take care of her family. Malcolm started to hang out with the wrong people. He

became a hustler, he would rob people for money and valuable things they

owned. He also started to get into hard drugs during his teenage years. All of

this led to him dropping out of school and his mom was put into a mental

hospital. When he was seventeen years old he was arrested and put into jail.

This was the start of his “new start”. He started reading the dictionary! His

speed increased incredibly. By reading the dictionary his vocabulary became

much better so he started reading books. After serving 8-10 years in jail he

got out and started to speak against racism. He was a very strong speaker,

which many people, including some whites, listened to. He would always be

talking about how the whites didn’t treat them right and to fight against

them. On February 21, 1965 Malcolm was speaking at a OAAU rally in Harlem and

he was shot and killed.

Oprah Winfery, a talk show producer and host, actress, and a very charitable

person. She began her career in television when she was nineteen years old.

She was the youngest and the first African-American woman to be a news anchor

at Nashville’s WTVF-TV. Nine years after her T.V. career took off she moved to

Chicago to host a morning talk show, “A.M. Chicago” which became the number

one rated talk show just a month after Oprah took over. In less than a year

the show expanded into a hour long program and was renamed, “The Oprah Winfery

Show”. It is now the highest rated talk show and has been for over ten years.

That’s T.V. history. She has also helped write the best-selling fitness book,

“Make the Connection”. Oprah has struggled with her weight for all of her

life. Though her personal struggle she helps people have the strength to also

lose weight and live a healthier life. Oprah devoted her last season to

helping children. She talks about violence, poverty, domestic abuse, and the

abuse of children. The goal of this serious was to give viewers information

and solutions on how to help these children. She also gave scholarships to

hundreds of students throughout the country.

Both of these great black american’s have been a great inspiration to many

people, not just black’s. They have found something thats wrong in the world

and have spoken out agnist it. They have helped open people’s eyes to the

problem that suround us every day. Malcolm X spoke out agnist rasim and the

way the African-Americans were treated by whites. Oprah Winfery has spoken out

about many thing but the one she feels the strongest about is how children are

treated. She is always giving donations to many charities for deprived

children. They both have helped people see the bad things in the world and

tried to change them. Both Oprah Winfery and Malcolm X have changed the world.

People will never forget what they have done to help.

I think Malcolm X was a sinner that turned into a saint. He was kind of

messed up in the begging of his life. Once he realized what was going on he

tried to help the African-American’s see what the whites were doing was wrong

and he wanted things to change. He did many good thing in his life to make up

for the wrong that he did when he was younger. To me, Malcolm X was a saint

for having the strength to speak their minds and standing up for the African-

Americans. He is one of the reasions the world is a more loving place.