Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little on May 19 1925 in Omaha. His mother Louise Norton Little, was a house wife who looked after his seven siblings and his father, Earl Little was a baptist minister and a strong supporter of black nationalist Marcus Garvey. This led him to be recognised by the white supremacist organisations the Klu Klux Klan and the Black Legion.
This forced his family to move twice before his fourth birthday. Eventually the Black Legion caught up with the Little family and they burned the family home to the ground and two years later Earls body was found on their towns tram tracks. The police at the time said it was an accident but the Little family were sure it was the Black Legion. Louise Little suffered a mental breakdown a few years after her husbands death and was put in a mental institution. Her children were split up between different foster homes.
Although he was a very intelligent student he lost interest in school when one of his favourite teachers smashed his dreams of becoming a lawyer by saying it was "no realistic goal for a nigger". This caused Malcolm to drop out of school and take on a life of crime. He was eventually imprisoned in 1946 charged with numerous burglaries. While in prison he studied Islam and in particular the Islamic organisation the Nation of Islam and its leader Elijah Muhammad. Elijah Muhammad believed that because of the racism directed at blacks at the time that they should set up their own state, free of white people. By the time he was released in 1952 Malcolm Little no longer existed as he changed his name to Malcolm X (He considered "Little" a slave name and chose the "X" to signify his lost tribal name.).
He quickly rose through the ranks of the Nation of Islam and is often credited with increasing its membership of 500 in 1952 to 30,000 in 1963. During the 60's radical tensions ran high and it wasn't only the media that Malcolm caught the attention of. The American government also took interest in Malcolm's radical thinking. As the NOI grew the FBI easily infiltrated the organisations (one was even Malcolm X's body guard).
When a series of scandals involving Elijah Muhammad having affairs with numerous women within the organisation, Malcolm X lost all faith in the Nation of Islam and left. He went on to found the Muslim Mosque Inc. He also went on a pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. For the first time in his life Malcolm X shared his beliefs with other people. He said when he returned he met "blonde-haired, blued-eyed men I could call my brothers." and his outlook was for people for all races not just blacks.
After many attempts to assassinate him he rarely travelled without bodyguards. In one attempt on his life his family home was fire bombed but he and his family escaped without harm. But a week later his assailants were successful and three gunmen rushed him while he was on stage in Manhattan's Audubon Ballroom and shot him 15 times. When he arrived at New York's Columbia Presbyterian Hospital he was pronounced dead. At the age of 39 one of the worlds greatest freedom fighters was killed for just doing what he thought was right and standing up for the downtrodden person everywhere.
