☞ MEET: Malcolm X

A side of Malcolm X that most people do not see beyond the militant, early years is that of a man overcoming great strife who eventually becomes a compassionate, spritirual learner with strong beliefs in an integrated society. Born Malcolm Little in 1925, the man that would be mostly known as Malcolm X represented change within society and himself. After losing his father to violence and his mother to mental illness, the young Malcolm would move to Harlem from Nebraska and engage in a life of petty crime. Sentenced to several years in jail by the time he was 19 years of age, Malcolm discovered the Nation of Islam and embraced higher learning while serving his sentence. By 1952, Malcolm had dropped his original last name and became the spokesperson for the Nation of Islam, alienating many in the Civil Rights Movement since separatism was his focus.

1964 brought another transformation to Malcolm X, who left the Nation of Islam because of corruption he saw in the organization and became a Sunni Muslim. His name by this time was changed to El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz in reverence to his learning and devotion to the Muslim faith. On a pilgrimage to Mecca, Malcolm saw people of all races unified in a greater, spiritual cause -- a sight that dispelled any belief in separatism as the right approach for African Americans. This great spiritual leader during the Civil Rights Era did not get a chance to extensively preach his new world views because radical members of the Nation of Islam paid their ultimate retribution with his death at Manhattan's Audubon Ballroom a year after leaving their fold.