Malcolm

Though Malcolm was a very good student the school principal told him there is no future in education for a Black person. Malcolm quit school, Soon he found himself as an entrepreneur in his own business of drugs and prostitution. However, when he tried to diversify his financial portfolio through armed robbery he was arrested and convicted in 1946. The seven years he spent in prison help him to complete his education. Malcolm embraced Islam and changed his name becoming Malcolm X. In 1952 Malcolm was paroled from prison and soon became a voice for the Nation of Islam. Malcolm soon established new mosques in Detroit and Harlem. Almost immediately became a national leader in the Nation of Islam. In 1959 Mike Wallace in a week long TV special called The Hate that Hate Produced featured Malcolm X and the principles of the Nation of Islam. Malcolm X now was more important than Elijah Muhammad and publicly acknowledged Elijah Muhammad was his leader.  Malcolm was under FBI surveillance and even a member of his bodyguard was an agent doing undercover work on Malcolm and the Nation of Islam.

The loyal solider of the faith was dealt a crushing blow in 1963 when it was reveled that Elijah Muhammad was father the children of many young girls who were encouraged to carry on the blood lines of the prophet. Malcolm after getting out of prison remained celibate until his marriage to Betty Shabazz in 1958 as was the teachings of his faith.  Malcolm was now left in search of some sort of meaning of all this. Also in 1963 with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy he made his famous the chickens have come home to roost speech. Muhammad "silenced" Malcolm for 90 days, even though Malcolm's was mild in comparison to things said by Muhammad. March 1964 Malcolm quit the Nation of Islam and shortly after that went on a pilgrimage to Mecca. The trip changed radically the worldview of Malcolm X who now believed white and Black could live as brothers and sisters.  An end to poverty and oppression were what needed to be addressed and not strict Black Nationalism.

On the return home to America Malcolm received death threats from members of his former faith. The family home of Malcolm was firebombed February 14, 1965. Then in the Manhattan's Audubon Ballroom on February 21, 1965 three gunmen shot Malcolm 15 times. Malcolm was pronounced dead on arrival the Hospital. The assassins were  Talmadge Hayer, Norman 3X Butler and Thomas 15X Johnson all members of the Nation of Islam.