Submitted by: Submitted by chang
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Category: World History
Date Submitted: 05/31/2011 10:53 PM
“Malcolm X”
Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little on May 19th 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska. Also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, was an African-American Muslim minister, public speaker, and human rights activist. He has been called one of the greatest and most influential African Americans in history.
His mother, Louis Norton Little, was a homemaker occupied with the family's eight children. His father, Earl Little, was an outspoken Baptist minister. Earl's civil rights activism prompted death threats from the white supremacist organization Black Legion, forcing the family to relocate twice before Malcolm's fourth birthday. By the time he was thirteen, his mother had an emotional breakdown several years after the death of her husband and was committed to a mental institution. Her children were split up between various adoptive homes and orphanages.
Malcolm X became involved in a number of criminal activities in Boston and New York. In 1946, Malcolm X was sentenced to eight to ten years in prison. While in prison, Malcolm X became a member of the Nation of Islam, and after his parole in 1952 he became one of the Nation's leaders and chief spokesmen. For nearly a dozen years he was the public face of the controversial group. He subsequently traveled extensively throughout Africa and the Middle East and founded Muslim Mosque Inc., a religious organization.
In September 1960, during the General Assembly meeting of the United Nations, Malcolm X was invited to many official embassy functions sponsored by African nations, where he met heads of state and other leaders, including Fidel Castro, Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt, and other African presidents.
Less than a year after he left the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X was assassinated by three members of the group while giving a speech in New York. The number of mourners who came to the public viewing in Harlem's Unity Funeral Home from February 23th through February 26th was estimated to be between 14,000 and...