Although Frederick Douglass and Malcolm X were born a hundred years apart, both of them object to the position of African Americans in society. In the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, he explains the cruelty of slavery with his experiences. Douglass talks how black children are separated from their families, resulting in loose relations with siblings. Douglass also describes how a white man treats his slave. Douglass writes, “he would at times seem to take great pleasure in whipping a slave. I have often been awakened at the dawn of day by the most heart-rending shrieks of an own aunt of mine, whom he used to tie up to a joist, and whip upon her naked back till she was literally covered with blood” (Douglass 1). For Douglass, education forever unfit him to be a slave and it ultimately led to his freedom.

Aspects from Frederick Douglass’s narrative was present in Malcolm X’s autobiography. Malcolm X wasn’t in a period of slavery, but a period of great discrimination against blacks. Much like Douglass, Malcolm X could not read. Malcolm X self educated himself while he was in prison. In prison, he taught himself how to read. He comes across books on slavery and through these books he learns how inhumane slavery was.  Malcolm X read, “descriptions of atrocities, saw those illustrations of black slave women tied up and flogged with whips; of black mothers watching their babies being dragged off, never to be seen by their mothers again” (Haley). The illustrations of black slave woman being flogs with whips resonates Douglass experience where he watched his aunt get whipped. The idea of “never to be seen by their mothers again” also relates back to Douglass’s time period where most children would not see their family ever again because they had to go serve their master. For  Malcolm X, “right there in prison that reading had changed forever the course of my life. As I see it today, the ability to read awoke inside me some long dormant craving to be mentally alive” (Haley). Reading had also changed Malcolm X, he was “awaken”. Both Douglass and Little were disgusted with slavery and decided to speak up about it. Frederick Douglass and Malcolm X were powerful figures in the quest for racial equality.