The Autobiography of Malcolm X: Chapters 5–9

by Malcolm X
In this powerful memoir, Malcolm X describes the development of his revolutionary consciousness and his transformation into an influential activist and leader.

Here are links to our lists for the autobiography: Chapters 1–4, Chapters 5–9, Chapters 10–13, Chapters 14–19
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. coup
    a brilliant and notable success
    The Theresa is now best known as the place where Fidel Castro went during his U.N. visit, and achieved a psychological coup over the U.S.
  2. depraved
    deviating from what is considered moral or right or proper
    I was going to become one of the most depraved parasitical hustlers among New York’s eight million people — four million of whom work, and the other four million of whom live off them.
  3. uncouth
    lacking refinement or cultivation or taste
    By that time, they had a laughing bet going that I wasn’t going to last, sales or not, because I had so rapidly become such an uncouth, wild young Negro.
  4. inevitable
    incapable of being avoided or prevented
    It was inevitable that I was going to be fired sooner or later.
  5. reminisce
    recall the past
    There, I heard the old-timers reminisce about all those great times.
  6. patronize
    be a regular customer or client of
    Whites who came at night got a better reception; the several Harlem nightclubs they patronized were geared to entertain and jive the night white crowd to get their money.
  7. threadbare
    thin and tattered with age
    A man who, in his prime, could have stolen Dollarbill’s whole roll, blindfolded, was threadbare, comic old “Fewclothes.”
  8. decorous
    characterized by propriety and dignity and good taste
    Actually, for the night-life crowd, Small’s was one of Harlem’s two or three most decorous nightspots.
  9. inhibited
    held back or restrained or prevented
    People in show business, of course, were less inhibited by social and racial taboos.
  10. surveillance
    close observation of a person or group
    Even if I wasn’t actually what was called ‘‘hot,’’ I was now going to be under surveillance — and the Small brothers had to protect their business.
  11. archetype
    something that serves as a model
    And a few were amused, seeing me as the “Harlem jigaboo” archetype.
  12. intuition
    instinctive knowing, without the use of rational processes
    The next time I went into one of those games, intuition told me to stick my gun under my belt right down the middle of my back.
  13. exploit
    use or manipulate to one's advantage
    I was a true hustler — uneducated, unskilled at anything honorable, and I considered myself nervy and cunning enough to live by my wits, exploiting any prey that presented itself.
  14. elite
    a group or class of persons enjoying superior status
    West Indian Archie had the kind of photographic memory that put him among the elite of numbers runners.
  15. gullible
    naive and easily deceived or tricked
    Gullible women often took the girls all over their houses, just to hear them exclaiming over the finery.
Created on Tue Feb 11 11:19:17 EST 2014 (updated Thu Aug 07 17:02:29 EDT 2025)

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