Malcolm X's Conk: What is it?

The chapter entitled ‘Homeboy’ in the Autobiography of Malcolm X as told by Alex Haley offers intriguing aspects of how Malcolm X transforms his physical appearance when he moves to Boston. In Boston Malcolm is exposed to the different lifestyles black folk have adopted. Malcolm’s most defining moment in Boston occurs when he makes a conscious decision to separate himself from the ‘Hill’ negroes in Roxbury by associating more with “negroes who were being their natural selves and not putting on airs” (Autobiography, 43). Among these less uppity negroes Malcolm befriends a man named Shorty, who introduces Malcolm to the ‘conking’ process whereby Malcolm’s kinky reddish hair is made to look more straight and shiny. As ‘Homeboy’ nears an end, however, Malcolm is quick to voice his disgust about his decision to change his hair’s texture. He claims it is his “first real step towards self-degradation” (Autobiography, 54). Indeed his conk is representative of a ty...