Teaching Sociology with <i>The Autobiography of Malcolm X</i>

This article offers an innovative way to teach an introductory sociology course by taking seriously C. Wright Mills’s dictum that the sociological imagination can be found at the nexus of history and biography. Indeed, introductory sociological concepts can be taught using a biography as the central text. To illustrate the idea, I describe my experience teaching a course titled “The Sociological Imagination” in which students read The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley over the course of the semester. The book is well adapted to a sociology course because the chapters each seem to engage a different social institution. By tracking the life of Malcolm X, students can learn about and discuss race, class, gender, urban life, criminal justice, religion, social movements, media, sports, transnationalism, and more. By multiple evaluative mechanisms, the course was successful in sparking student interest, teaching sociological concepts, and conveying the sociological imagination.