Malcolm+XSarahS

Malcolm X:

Malcolm X has been described as one of the greatest and most influential African Americans in history.

He didn't start out that way though. By the age of 13 his father had died and his mother had been commited to a mental hospital. He turned to a life of crime.

He then joined the Nation of Islam.

On March 8, 1964, Malcolm X publicly announced his break from the Nation of Islam. He said that he was still a Muslim, but he felt the Nation of Islam had "gone as far as it can" because of its rigid religious teachings.

On February 21, 1965, in Manhattan's Audubon Ballroom. Malcolm X began to speak to a meeting of the Organization of Afro-American Unity when a disturbance broke out in the crowd of 400. A man yelled, "Nigger! Get your hand outta my pocket!" As Malcolm X and his bodyguards moved to quiet the disturbance, a man rushed forward and shot him in the chest with a sawed-off shotgun. Two other men charged the stage and fired handguns, hitting him 16 times. Furious onlookers caught and beat one of the assassins as the others fled the ballroom. Malcolm X was pronounced dead at 3:30 p.m., shortly after he arrived at Colombia Presbyterian Hospital.