15. Malcolm X was an African-American Muslim minister and human rights activist.
14. African American leader and prominent figure in the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X articulated concepts of race pride and black nationalism in the early 1960s.
13. He opposed the mainstream civil rights movement, publicly calling for black separatism and rejecting nonviolence and integration as effective means of combatting racism.
12. As a young child, Malcolm, his parents, brothers, and sisters were shot at, burned out of their home, harassed, and threatened. This culminated in the murder of his father by white racists when Malcolm was six.
11. His mother later had a nervous breakdown and was committed to an institution, forcing Malcolm and his siblings to live in foster homes.
10. He was born in Omaha, Nebraska, on May 19, 1925.
9. In 1946, while in prison for burglary, he was converted to the Black Muslim faith ( Nation of Islam); this sect professed the superiority of black people and the inherent evil of whites.
8. In 1964, after a pilgrimage to Mecca, he announced his conversion to orthodox Islam and his new belief that there could be brotherhood between black and white.
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7. Malcolm became a drop-out from school at the age of fifteen. Learning the ways of the streets, Malcolm became acquainted with hoodlums, thieves, dope peddlers, and pimps. Convicted of burglary at twenty, he remained in prison until the age of twenty-seven.
6. Malcolm began studying the Muslim religion, largely focusing on the works of Elijah Muhammad, the leader of the Nation of Islam.
5. Malcolm X visited Africa on three separate occasions, once in 1959 and twice in 1964. During his visits, he met officials, gave interviews to newspapers, and spoke on television and radio in Egypt, Ethiopia, Tanganyika (now Tanzania), Nigeria, Ghana, Guinea, Sudan, Senegal, Liberia, Algeria, and Morocco. Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt, and Ahmed Ben Bella of Algeria invited Malcolm X to serve in their governments.
4. Malcolm went to Detroit, joined the daily activities of the sect, and was given instruction by Elijah Muhammad himself. Malcolm’s personal commitment helped build the organization nation-wide, while making him an international figure. He was interviewed on major television programs and by magazines, and spoke across the country at various universities and other forums.
3. Over the next decade, the membership of the Nation of Islam increased from 500 to over 30,000, largely based on his charismatic recruiting efforts.
2. Malcolm harshly criticized whites for their treatment of blacks. He often called white people devils. He said black people should defend themselves by any means necessary.
1. Malcolm X was shot and killed on February 21, 1965, while giving a speech at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City. He was 39 years old.
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