Slave Name: Losing their identities

The greatest boxer Muhammad Ali used to be called Cassius Clay, that was his slave name, and he rejected it, therefore he changed his name to a name with that he could felt identified.
If you want to know more about the history of Muhammad Ali, click here->I AM THE URL o/

During the XVIII and XIX centuries african slavery was legal in the United States. To enslave africans, slave owners changed their last names to identify them as their own and to have an easier way of name them.

The name change that caught my attention was the new name of Malcolm Little. He changed his name to Malcolm X. I think that it was the most protestant name against discrimination and the years of slavery that their ancestors lived, because he used a "X" as surname. An X in mathematics is used to identify an unknown number, in this case he used a X to show that he had an unknown surname.

In a TV show, a man interviewed Malcolm, that man asked to Malcolm X about his surname and Malcolm gave an explanation about how he had no surname, the father of his father lost his surname when he was enslaved. Regrettably, the man don't understood it and continued asking the same. That was when Malcolm told him that he completely rejected the name.

Here is the video to you to understand better what happened:

If we think in our culture, it may be that our ancestors were Mapuches, then probably we also have lost our identity because of colonization or slavery. African Americans were deprived of their authentic culture, maybe our community were deprived of our authentic culture too, without notice and without concern for the loss of a very rich culture. Do you feel that you don't belong to this society? Or do you just feel comfortable with the surname that you have? Even if it doesn't was originated here in Chile?

I want to share some Mapuche's surnames and their meaning:

I hope you enjoy this and share your comments with me :)