teachers response to Malcolm’s answer of “lawyer”changed Malcolm forever. The teacher said Malcolm should try to get a career suited for hiskind, such as carpentry. Malcolm could not deal with the fact that although his scores werehigh, society shill said he had little chance for success in a legal field. Malcolm was the unableto associate with whites as he had before. Shorty after he moved to live with a relative inMason, Michigan. There Malcolm grew up fast. Malcolm first roamed the streets of Boston tobecome accustomed to the surroundings. Malcolm experienced many things for the firsttime...‘I had never had tasted a sip of liquor, never even smoked a cigarette,and here I saw little black children, ten and twelve years old, shooting craps,playing cards, fighting....children threw swear words I’d never heard before....”Malcolm met Shorty, a man who had a significant influence on Malcolm’s life. Shorty helpedMalcolm find a job as a shoeshine boy for a large ballroom. Malcolm was trained for a fewnights by the exiting guy. This training included not only shoeshining but also the dealing ofdrugs and the hiring of prostitutes for customers. Soon Shorty had showed Malcolm how towear s zoot suit and put his hair into a conk (a hairstyle African Americans wore to straightentheir hair). Malcolm soon learned how to dance and ended up quitting his shoeshine job. Inthe process of dancing, he met Laura, an educated girl who was also an excellent dancepartner. Malcolm began going out with Laura and was involved in a serious relationship untilhe met Sophia. Sophia was an older white girl whom Malcolm immediately went after at aparty. It wasn’t long until Sophia was was with Malcolm. Soon after in 1942 in an attempt byhis aunt to get him away from Boston and Sophia Malcolm became a dishwasher foe therailroad company. Malcolm soon became a local street hustler but was forced to retreat ...
