"Mascot" is part of Malcolm X's life that changed his way of thinking. As a child he was tall and not very athletic. his brother was a great boxer and he wanted to be one to. his first fight was against a white kid. he lost and he could not show his face in town. he trained hard and tried another fight with the same person. he was knocked out right in the beginning. that ended his boxing career. Malcolm then went to class, wearing a hat. the teacher made him walk around the classroom so everyone could see. Malcolm put a thumb tack on the teachers seat and and the teacher sat down. Malcolm was then sent to a detention home. the family there loved him for who he was. they didn't treat the same though. he heard the n word wherever he went. he went to school and got the best grades. when his teacher asked him what he wanted to when he grew up. he said he wanted to be a lawyer. the teacher told him that he couldn't be a lawyer because he was black and that he should be a carpenter. this frustrated him. he was one of the best in his class and he was being told to do something he didn't want to, when others that didn't have good grades but were white were told to do whatever they wanted. this is when his view changed and he wanted equal rights.
there were many similarities between "The Great Debaters", and the other two stories, "NightJohn" and "Mascot". One similarity is that Malcolm wanted to be a lawyer and and Samantha Booke wanted to be a lawyer. they both had the same dream but there is some differences. Malcolm never became a lawyer. Samantha did become a lawyer and was one of the first black women lawyers in texas. she was encouraged by her family and her friends to become whatever she wanted. for Malcolm, this was not the case. he didn't have a family to tell him to try it. he was actually discouraged to become a lawyer by his teacher. Also another similarity is lynching. In the Great Debaters, they saw a man lynched, and in NightJohn, Jim who tried to escape was holding on to a tree and dogs ripped off all the meat on his body which seemed like a lynching. they both were similar because they both where being held from a tree. also, they both were being cut and had body parts taken off their bodies. some differences where that in the Great Debaters, a mob lynched a negro and in NightJohn the negro was lynched by his owner. also in NightJohn, the dogs are the ones who caused all the pain. That is how the Great Debaters is similar to NightJohn and Mascot.