Shadowing Practice: Malcolm X - The House Negro and the Field Negro - Learn English Speaking with Video
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266 sentences
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To understand this, you have to go back to what young brother here referred to as the house Negro
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and the field Negro, back during slavery.
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There was two kinds of slaves.
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There was the house Negro and the field Negro.
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The house Negro, they lived in the house with master.
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They dressed pretty good.
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They ate good, because they ate his food, what he left.
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they lived in the attic or the basement
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but still they lived near their master
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and they loved their master more than the master loved himself
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they would they would give their life to save their master's house quicker than the master would the house negro
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if the master said we got a good house here the
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house negro say yeah we got a good house here whenever
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the master said we he said we that's how you can tell a house Negro.
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If the master's house caught on fire, the house Negro would fight harder to put the blaze out than the master would.
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If the master got sick, the house Negro would say, what's the matter, boss?
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We sick.
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We sick.
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He identified himself with his master more than his master identified with himself.
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And if you came to the house Negro and said, let's run away, let's escape,
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let's separate, that house Negro would look at you and say, man, you crazy.
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What do you mean separate?
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Where is there a better house than this?
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Where can I wear better clothes than this?
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Where can I eat better food than this that was
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that house negro in those days he was called a house nigger
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and that's what we call him today because we still got some house niggers running around here
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this modern house negro loves his master he wants to live
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near him he'll pay three times as much as the house is worth just to live near his master.
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And then brag about, I'm the only Negro out here.
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I'm the only one on my job.
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I'm the only one in this school, you nothing but a house Negro.
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And if someone come to you right now and say, let's separate, you say the same thing that the house Negro said on the plantation.
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What do you mean separate? From America?
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This good white man?
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Where are you going to get a better job than you get here?
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I mean, this is what you say.
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I ain't left nothing in Africa.
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That's what you say while you left your mind in Africa.
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On that same plantation, there was the field Negro.
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The field Negro, those were the masses.
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There was always more Negroes in the field than there was Negroes in the house.
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The Negro in the field caught hell.
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He ate leftovers.
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In the house, they ate high up on the hog.
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The Negro in the field didn't get nothing but what was left of the insides of the hog.
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They call them chitlins nowadays.
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In those days, they call them what they were, guts.
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that's what you were a gut eater and some of you are all still gut eaters
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the field negro was beaten from morning till night he lived in a shack in a hut
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But he wore cast -off clothes, and he hated his master.
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I say he hated his master.
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He was intelligent.
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That house Negro loved his master.
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But that field Negro, remember, they were in the majority, and they hated his master.
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When the house caught on fire, he didn't try and put it out.
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That field Negro prayed for a wind, for a breeze.
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When the master got sick, the field Negro prayed that he died.
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if someone come to the field Negro
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and say let's separate let's run he didn't say where are
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we going he said any place is
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better than him you got
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field Negroes in America today I'm a field Negro Negroes.
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The masses are the field Negroes.
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When they see this man's house on fire, you don't hear these little Negroes talking about, our government is in trouble.
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They say, the government is in trouble.
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Imagine a Negro, our government.
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I even heard one say, our astronauts.
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They won't even let him near the plant.
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And our astronauts, our Navy, that's a Negro that's out of his mind.
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That's a Negro that's out of his mind.
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Just as the slave master in that day used Tom, the house Negro, to keep the field Negroes in check,
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the same old slave master today has Negroes who are nothing but modern Uncle Toms,
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20th century Uncle Toms, to keep you and me in check,
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keep us under control, keep us passive and peaceful and non -violent.
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That's Tom making you non -violent.
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It's like when you go to the dentist and the man is going to take your tooth.
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you're gonna fight him when he start pulling
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so they squirt some stuff in your jaw called novocaine to make you think they're not doing anything to you
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so you sit there and cause you got all that novocaine in your jaw you suffer peacefully
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blood running all down your jaw
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and you don't know what's happening because someone has taught you to suffer peacefully
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the white man do the same thing to you in the street
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when he don't want to put knots on your head
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and take advantage of you and don't have to be afraid of you fighting back.
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To keep you from fighting back, you get these old religious Uncle Toms to teach you and me.
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They're just like Novocaine.
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Suffer peacefully.
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Don't stop suffering.
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Just suffer peacefully.
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As Reverend Cleve pointed out, let your blood flow in the streets.
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This is a shame.
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And you know he's a Christian preacher.
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If it's a shame to him, you know what it is to me.
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Because nothing in our book, the Koran, as you call it, Koran, teaches us to suffer peacefully.
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Our religion teaches us to be intelligent, be peaceful, be courteous, obey the law.
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Respect everyone, but if someone puts his hand on you, send them to the cemetery.
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That's a good religion.
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In fact, that's that all -time religion.
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that's the one that ma and pa used to talk about
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an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth
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and a head for a head
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and a life for a life that's a good religion
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and then anybody no one resents that kind of religion being taught
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but a wolf who intends to make you his meal this
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is the way it is with the white man in America he's a wolf
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and you're a sheep anytime a shepherd a pastor Teach you and me not to run from the white man,
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and at the same time, teachers don't fight the white man.
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He's a traitor to you and me.
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Don't lay down our life all by itself.
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No. Preserve your life.
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It's the best thing you got.
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And if you got to give it up, let it be even -steven.
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the slave master took tom and dressed him well
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and fed him well
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and even gave him a little education a little education gave him a long coat
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and a top hat
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and made all the other slaves look up to him then he used tom to control them the same strategy
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that was used in those days is used today by the same white man he take a negro
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so -called negro and make him prominent build him up publicize him make him a celebrity
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and then he becomes a spokesman for negroes and a negro leader
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I would like to just mention one thing else quickly,
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and that is the method that the white man uses,
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how the white man uses these big guns or Negro leaders against the black revolution.
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They are not a part of the black revolution.
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They're used against the black revolution.
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When Martin Luther King failed to desegregate Albany, Georgia, the civil rights struggle in America reached its low point.
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King became bankrupt almost as a leader.
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Plus, even financially, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference was in financial trouble, plus it was in trouble,
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period, with the people when they failed to desegregate Albany, Georgia.
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Other Negro civil rights leaders of so -called national stature became fallen idols.
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As they became fallen idols, began to lose their prestige and influence,
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local Negro leaders began to stir up the masses.
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In Cambridge, Maryland, Gloria Richardson,
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In Danville, Virginia, and other parts of the country,
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local leaders begin to stir up our people at the grassroots level.
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This was never done by these Negroes whom you recognize of national stature.
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They controlled you, but they never incited you or excited you.
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They controlled you.
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They contained you.
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They kept you on the plantation.
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As soon as King failed in Birmingham, Negroes took to the streets.
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King got out and went out to California to a big rally
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and raised about I don't know how many thousands of dollars.
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Come to Detroit and had a march and raised some more thousands of dollars
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and recall right after that wilkins attack came accused king and the core
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of starting trouble everywhere and then making the naacp get him out of jail
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and spend a lot of money and then he accused king
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and core of raising all the money
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and not paying him back this happened i got it in documented evidence in the newspaper roy started attacking king
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and king started attacking roy and farmers started attacking both of them
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and as these negroes of national stature begin to attack each
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other they begin to lose their control of the negro masses
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and negroes was out there in the streets they was talking
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about we're going to march on washington by the way
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and right at that time birmingham had exploded
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and the negroes in birmingham remember they also exploded they began to stab the crackers in the back
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and bust them upside the head yes they did
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that's when kennedy sent in the truth down in birmingham so
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and right after that kennedy got on the television
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and said this is a moral issue that's
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when he said he gonna put out a civil rights bill
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and when he mentioned civil rights building the southern crackers start talking about they were gonna boycott it
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or filibuster then the negroes start talking about what we're gonna
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march on washington march on the senate march on the white house march on the congress
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and tie it up bring it to a halt don't let
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the government proceed they even said they were going to go out to the airport
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and lay down on the runaway
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and don't let no airplanes land i'm telling you what they said
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that was revolution that was revolution that was the black revolution
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it was the grassroots out there in the street scared the
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white man to death scared the white power structure in washington dc to death i was there
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when they found out that this black steamroller was going to come down on the capitol they called in wilkins
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they called in randolph they called in these national negro leaders that you respect
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and told them call it off Kennedy said look y 'all letting this thing go too far
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an old Tom said boss I can't stop it
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because I didn't start I'm telling you what they said they
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said I'm not even in it much less at the head
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of it they said these Negroes are doing things on their own.
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They're running ahead of us.
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And that old shrewd fox, he said, well, if you all aren't in it, I'll put you in it.
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I'll put you at the head of it.
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I'll endorse it.
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I'll welcome it.
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I'll help it.
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I'll join it.
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A matter of hours went by.
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They had a meeting at the Carlisle Hotel in New York City.
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The Carlisle Hotel is owned by the Kennedy family.
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That's the hotel Kennedy spent the night at two nights ago.
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Belongs to his family.
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A philanthropic society headed by a white man named Stephen courier
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called all the top civil rights leaders together at the carlisle hotel
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and told them that by you all fighting each other you're destroying the civil rights movement
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and since you're fighting over money from white liberals let us
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set up what's known as the council for united civil rights leadership let's form this council
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and all the civil rights organizations will belong to it
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and we'll use it for fundraising purposes let me show you how tricky the white man is.
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And as soon as they got it formed, they elected Whitney Young as the chairman.
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And who you think became the co -chairman?
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Stephen Currier, the white man.
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A millionaire.
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Powell was talking about it down at the Cobo today.
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This is what he was talking about.
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Powell knows it happened.
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Randolph knows it happened.
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Wilkins knows it happened.
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King knows it happened every one of that
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so -called big six they know what happened once they formed
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it with the white man over it he promised them and gave them eight hundred thousand dollars
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to split up between the big six and told them
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that after the march was over they'd give them seven hundred thousand more a million
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and a half dollars split up between leaders
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that you've been following going to jail for crying crocodile tears for
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and they'd nothing but Frank James and Jesse James and what you call it
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brothers soon as they got the set up organized the white
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men made available to them top public relations experts open the news media across the country at their disposal
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and then they begin to project these big six as the
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leaders of the march originally they weren't even in the march
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you was talking this march talk on hasten street is hasten
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street still here on hasten street you was talking the march talk on lennox avenue
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and down on uh what you call it phillimore street
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and central avenue and 42nd street
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and 63rd street that's where the march talk was being talked but the white man put the big six ahead of it, made them the march.
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They became the march.
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They took it over.
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And the first move they made after they took it over, they invited Walter Ruther, a white man.
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They invited a priest, a rabbi, and an old white preacher.
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Yes, an old white preacher.
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The same white element that put Kennedy in power,
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labor, the Catholics, the Jews, and liberal Protestants.
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The same clique that put Kennedy in power joined the March on Washington.
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It's just like when you got some coffee that's too black, which means it's too strong.
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What you do, you integrate it with cream.
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You make it weak.
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If you pour too much cream in, you won't even know you ever had coffee.
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It used to be hot, it becomes cool.
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It used to be strong, it becomes weak.
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It used to wake you up, now it'll put you to sleep.
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This is what they did with the March on Washington.
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They joined it they didn't integrate it they infiltrated it they
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joined it became a part of it took it over
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and as they took it over it lost its militancy they ceased to be angry they ceased to be hot
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they ceased to be uncompromising why it even ceased to be a march it became a picnic a circus
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nothing but a circus with clowns
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and all you had one right here in detroit i saw it on television with clowns leaving it white clowns
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and black clowns i know you don't like what i'm saying
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but i'm going to tell you anyway because i can prove what i'm saying
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if you think i'm telling you wrong you bring me martin luther king
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and a philip randolph and james farmer and those other three and see if they'll deny it over a microphone.
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No, it was a sellout.
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It was a takeover.
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When James Baldwin came in from Paris, they wouldn't let him talk because they couldn't make him go by the script.
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But Lancaster left the speech that Baldwin was supposed to make.
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They wouldn't let Baldwin get up there because they know Baldwin liable to say anything.
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They controlled it so tight they told those Negroes what time to hit town, how to come, where to stop,
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what sign to carry, what song to sing, what speech they could make and what speech they couldn't make.
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And then told them to get out of town by sundown.
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And every one of those Toms were out of town by sundown.
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Now I know you don't like my saying this, but I can bank it up.
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It was a circus, a performance.
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It beat anything Hollywood could ever do.
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The performance of the year.
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Ruther and those other three devils should get a Academy Award for the best actors
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because they acted like they really loved Negroes and fooled a whole lot of Negroes.
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And the six Negro leaders should get a or an award too for the best supporting cast.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This C1 speaking lesson is built on the video “Malcolm X - The House Negro and the Field Negro”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: negro, master, negroes, march, field. This video has 266 sentences and 2893 words to shadow. The speech runs for 23:15. The speaker talks at a steady 124 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 84% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| peacefully adverb | /ˈpiːsfəli/ | In a peaceful manner. |
| clown noun | /ˈklaʊ̯n/ | A slapstick performance artist often associated with a circus and usually characterized by bright, oversized clothing, a red nose, face paint, and a brightly… |
| cease verb | /sis/ | To stop. |
| hasten verb | /ˈheɪ.sn̩/ | To move or act in a quick fashion. |
| stature noun | /ˈstæt͡ʃ.ə/ | A person or animal's natural height when standing upright. |
| preacher noun | /ˈpɹit͡ʃɚ/ | Someone who preaches a worldview, philosophy, or religion, especially someone who preaches the gospel and especially a clergyman or clergywoman. In a religious… |
| plantation noun | /plænˈteɪʃən/ | A large farm; estate or area of land designated for agricultural growth. Often includes housing for the owner and workers. |
| circus noun | /ˈsɜːkəs/ | A traveling company of performers that may include acrobats, clowns, trained animals, and other novelty acts, that gives shows usually in a circular tent. |
| tooth noun | /tuθ/ | A hard, calcareous structure present in the mouth of many vertebrate animals, generally used for biting and chewing food. |
| cracker noun | /ˈkɹækə(ɹ)/ | A dry, thin, crispy baked bread (usually salty or savoury, but sometimes sweet, as in the case of graham crackers and animal crackers). |
| desegregate verb | /diːˈsɛɡɹəɡeɪt/ | To end the segregation of (something). |
| eater noun | /ˈiː.tɚ/ | A person or animal who eats. |
| grassroots adjective | /ˈɡɹæs.ɹuːts/ | Of, or relating to people or society at the local level, particularly in politics, social movements, etc.; of the grass roots. |
| sundown noun | /ˈsʌnˌdaʊn/ | Sunset. |
| astronaut noun | /ˈæstɹəˌnɔt/ | A member of the crew of a spaceship or other spacecraft that travels beyond Earth's atmosphere, or someone trained to serve that purpose. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| fight back verb | /faɪt bæk/ | To defend oneself by fighting. |
| set up verb | /ˌsɛt ˈʌp/ | To make ready for use. |
| split up verb | Cease to be together, break apart from the group. | |
| stir up verb | /ˈstɜː.ɹʌp/ | To arouse or excite (passion or action, etc.). |
| come down on verb | To punish or criticize (someone). | |
| find out verb | To discover, as by asking or investigating. | |
| get out verb | To leave or escape. | |
| get out of verb | To leave, exit or escape from; to become free of. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- What do you mean separate?
- Where can I wear better clothes than this?
- I'm the only one on my job.
- He's a traitor to you and me.
- Don't lay down our life all by itself.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| “Used to” used to + verb — a past habit or state that is no longer true | used to talk · used to be · used to wake |
| Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result | if you all aren't in it, I'll put |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | was called · was left · was beaten |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 65 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, I'm, I'll. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: tooth /tuθ/, philanthropic /ˌfɪl.ənˈθɹɑ.pɪk/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: plantation /plænˈteɪʃən/, shrewd /ʃɹuːd/, shepherd /ˈʃɛpəɹd/
- Long words — get the stress right: desegregate /diːˈsɛɡɹəɡeɪt/, filibuster /ˈfɪləˌbəstər/, militancy /ˈmɪlɪtənsi/, philanthropic /ˌfɪl.ənˈθɹɑ.pɪk/, millionaire /ˌmɪl.i.əˈnɛə(ɹ)/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like peacefully, clown, cease.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.