Having grown up on so many of the great musicians of the Harlem Renaissance, I've developed a quite romantic view of that time period. The smoky jazz clubs and swinging dance halls have always held a sort of magical allure for me. Though I've obviously never experienced them, I miss the days when all the young people would go out dancing all the time. Real, big band dancing.
Needless to say, I loved reading about Malcolm X's experiences in this era. I expected to be caught off guard by descriptions of the less-glamorous sides of Harlem, like the blatant racism, poverty, and drug trade, but even all of this failed to muddy my opinion. It may have been my own biased view, but it seemed to me that Malcolm described this part of his life as though he thoroughly enjoyed it as much as I imagine I would have, even though he is looking back on it through the eyes of a much wiser man.
I never really thought about the more controversial race aspects of Harlem much. I was always taught that the Harlem Renaissance was just that: a cultural rebirth of African American identity. But the acute observations of Malcolm X bring this idea back to Earth. He describes the constant struggle of the black American of the time, even in Harlem, and he makes some generalizations about white people that I find incredibly offensive, but may very well have held some truth back then, no matter how hard it is for me to imagine ever thinking in such a way.
This book makes me wonder, above all else, whether or not the thoughts of the young Malcolm X were unique to him. It seems he was an exceptionally race-conscious person, but that may just be because I think so little of race, having grown up in the 21st century. Did many if the blacks of Harlem think so poorly of the whites who found their way into the restaurants and clubs or Harlem every night in search of "that Negro feel"?
