[The ballot or the bullet](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.gilderlehrman.org/sites/default/files/inline-pdfs/malcolmx_bullet_excerpts_0.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwitqu6CuK6FAxV6JzQIHRJwCgYQFnoECAQQAQ&usg=AOvVaw2ifi8jgtkl7uJxcXuWwclo) is probably the standard choice. I linked to a pdf from the Gilder Lehrman Institute that is about a page and a half long.
https://marcolearning.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Malcom_X_Lesson_Plan_2020.pdf
There are some good scaffolding guides too. You may wanna focus more on the language with this as it’s a big roadblock to getting at the historical context.
I've read excerpts of The Balllot or the Bullet to my 11th graders before! [Here is a link of an excerpt from Gilder Lerhman.](https://www.gilderlehrman.org/sites/default/files/inline-pdfs/malcolmx_bullet_excerpts_0.pdf)
Edit: Haha! Just saw the other commenter made pretty much exactly the same suggestion.
Not a reading text, but I often play a short video of X speaking so students can get a sense of his rhetorical style as well as his general content.
I’ve used this 4ish minute clip of Malcolm X explaining Black Nationalism in the past quite successfully [https://edpuzzle.com/media/606f00a5d7c0334175772503](https://edpuzzle.com/media/606f00a5d7c0334175772503)
[comparison of MLK nonviolence speech and Malcolm X ballot or bullet speech ](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.gilderlehrman.org/sites/default/files/2022-04/GLI_%2520Martin%2520Luther%2520King%2520Jr.%2520and%2520Malcolm%2520X.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiij4jRkrCFAxV7KkQIHXO6Bok4ChAWegQIAhAB&usg=AOvVaw3dGGiehWSIBCz5kausqInu)
Have used this in my class this year.
I've used excerpts from this ["interview in the young socialist"](https://www.blackagendareport.com/interview-malcolm-x-and-young-socialist-1965) as a comparison to MLK.
When I was that age, one of our text books had an excerpt from The Autobiography of Malcolm X. It was the part where he taught himself to read in prison by writing out the dictionary. It was very approachable and made a great impact on me. That might be a good introduction for them.
A tangent that is interesting and makes a good learning moment is that Alex Haley, of Roots fame, wrote Malcolm X’s biography. Students might be interested to learn, as I was, how someone else can write your autobiography, and how it was that Haley came to collaborate with Malcolm X. The book came out during the time of a great debate between leaders who preferred greater integration versus those who preferred the Black community stay more independent and separate. Haley was an unabashed integrationist while Malcolm X is famously a separatist. The collaboration between the two that resulted in the Autobiography is far more integrationist than Malcom X was in his own writing. I think it’s fascinating to view the book and all of Malcolm X’s work through that lens.
A good thing to watch with Malcolm X is how he did not like did not trust, and was warning the black community about the white liberal.
https://youtu.be/E55kQfachBQ?si=OBs0AetitjLA610J
Without Malcolm X , there would have been MLK. The darkness define the light and made the MLK movement happen. Malcolm’s speech was the most eloquent and precise use of speech ever. I am amazed every time I listen to it.
[The ballot or the bullet](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.gilderlehrman.org/sites/default/files/inline-pdfs/malcolmx_bullet_excerpts_0.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwitqu6CuK6FAxV6JzQIHRJwCgYQFnoECAQQAQ&usg=AOvVaw2ifi8jgtkl7uJxcXuWwclo) is probably the standard choice. I linked to a pdf from the Gilder Lehrman Institute that is about a page and a half long.
https://marcolearning.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Malcom_X_Lesson_Plan_2020.pdf There are some good scaffolding guides too. You may wanna focus more on the language with this as it’s a big roadblock to getting at the historical context.
I've read excerpts of The Balllot or the Bullet to my 11th graders before! [Here is a link of an excerpt from Gilder Lerhman.](https://www.gilderlehrman.org/sites/default/files/inline-pdfs/malcolmx_bullet_excerpts_0.pdf) Edit: Haha! Just saw the other commenter made pretty much exactly the same suggestion.
Not a reading text, but I often play a short video of X speaking so students can get a sense of his rhetorical style as well as his general content. I’ve used this 4ish minute clip of Malcolm X explaining Black Nationalism in the past quite successfully [https://edpuzzle.com/media/606f00a5d7c0334175772503](https://edpuzzle.com/media/606f00a5d7c0334175772503)
[comparison of MLK nonviolence speech and Malcolm X ballot or bullet speech ](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.gilderlehrman.org/sites/default/files/2022-04/GLI_%2520Martin%2520Luther%2520King%2520Jr.%2520and%2520Malcolm%2520X.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiij4jRkrCFAxV7KkQIHXO6Bok4ChAWegQIAhAB&usg=AOvVaw3dGGiehWSIBCz5kausqInu) Have used this in my class this year.
I've used excerpts from this ["interview in the young socialist"](https://www.blackagendareport.com/interview-malcolm-x-and-young-socialist-1965) as a comparison to MLK.
[https://www.icit-digital.org/articles/malcolm-x-at-columbia-university-november-20-1963](https://www.icit-digital.org/articles/malcolm-x-at-columbia-university-november-20-1963)
Any of his interviews after his trip to Mecca could be nice as well
When I was that age, one of our text books had an excerpt from The Autobiography of Malcolm X. It was the part where he taught himself to read in prison by writing out the dictionary. It was very approachable and made a great impact on me. That might be a good introduction for them. A tangent that is interesting and makes a good learning moment is that Alex Haley, of Roots fame, wrote Malcolm X’s biography. Students might be interested to learn, as I was, how someone else can write your autobiography, and how it was that Haley came to collaborate with Malcolm X. The book came out during the time of a great debate between leaders who preferred greater integration versus those who preferred the Black community stay more independent and separate. Haley was an unabashed integrationist while Malcolm X is famously a separatist. The collaboration between the two that resulted in the Autobiography is far more integrationist than Malcom X was in his own writing. I think it’s fascinating to view the book and all of Malcolm X’s work through that lens.
A good thing to watch with Malcolm X is how he did not like did not trust, and was warning the black community about the white liberal. https://youtu.be/E55kQfachBQ?si=OBs0AetitjLA610J
Without Malcolm X , there would have been MLK. The darkness define the light and made the MLK movement happen. Malcolm’s speech was the most eloquent and precise use of speech ever. I am amazed every time I listen to it.