While he was in prison he learned of the Honourable Elijah Mohammed and of the project "Black Muslims". He and his siblings became converts to the movement and asked Malcolm to write to Elijah Mohammed.
Malcom tried but he got frustrated not being able to read his own handwriting. He had a prison mate called Bimbi who took control over all conversations because of his knowledge, Malcom got jealous and started to copy a whole dictionary. That way he started to remember the words and their meaning.