Malcolm X
El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, otherwise known as Malcolm X, was born on May 19, 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska. He believed that the power to support freedom was better than the power of the government, which was being used to keep blacks down and powerless. When he was thirteen years old he became orphaned. As the only black student at West Junior High School, he was very smart and attentive, but his teachers discouraged him from reaching too high, leading him to drop out at the age of fifteen. This led him to a life of crime and wrong doings. He was arrested in 1942 but was paroled after seven years of his ten year sentence. He used his time in prison to make up the education he missed. While he was in prison he converted to the Nation of Islam. In 1956 he married Betty Sanders, also a member of the Nation of Islam. Malcolm was a dedicated follower of Elijah Muhammad, who was the leader of the Nation of Islam. Malcolm was very charismatic, determined, and faithful which greatly improved the Nation of Islam. After a scandal in the Nation of Islam in 1964, he left and started his own religious organization called the Muslim Mosque, Inc. On February 21, 1965 he was shot and killed by members of the Nation of Islam. Malcolm changed the views of many different kinds of people, and his autobiography continues to inspire people from all backgrounds and nations.
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"Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you're a man, you take it." - Malcolm X
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