Malcolm X

Malcolm Little, who later changed his name into Malcolm X , was born on February 19, 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska. His father Earl Little, a supporter of the Black Nationalist Leader Marcus Gavey, was killed in 1929 by the Ku Klux Klan and after his mother was sent to a mental institution. The collapse of the family was followed by his personal breakdown that was intensified by a teacher who told him that becoming a lawyer "is no realistic goal for a nigger". 

Later, Malcolm travelled to New York, started to commit crimes and was arrested for robbery in 1946. During this time in prison he converted to the Islam and joined the action of Islam. After his dismissal he became a minister and a national spokesman for the Black Muslims and began to fight violently for Civil Rights ( "There is nothing in our book, the Koran, that teaches us to suffer peacefully" ). 

But after Malcolm found out that their leader Elijah Muhammad did not follow the rules of the Koran, he lost his trust in the Nation of Islam ( "Before it was for and by the guidance Elijah Muhammad. Now I think with my own mind, sir!" ). Because he commented on the assassination of John F. Kennedy with the phrase "he never foresaw that the chickens would come home to roost so soon", which means that JFK's policy partly caused his death, he was silenced for 90 days and left the Nation of Islam. 

After his pilgrimage to Mekka in 1964 he changed his name into El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz and moreover he changed his point of view ( "I am not a racist. I am against every form of racism and segregation, every form of discrimination. I believe in human beings, and that all human beings should be respected as such, regardless of their color." ). 

Therefore the relations between him and the Nation of Islam became volatile. After repeated attempts on his life and even a firebombing of the house where he lived with his wife Betty X, he married in 1958, and their four daughters in 1965, he realized that he would probably die. Two days before his assassination he said: "It is a time for martyrs now, and if I am to be one, it will be for the cause of brotherhood. That is the only thing that can save this country ".

 In the Manhattan`s Audubon Ballroom, where he was delivering a speech on February 21, 1965, he was executed by three members of the Nation of Islam who rushed on stage and shot him 15 times at close range.