Louis Farrakhan
Louis Farrakhan was the leader of the Chicago-based Nation of Islam. He served as minister of major mosques in Boston and Harlem before the 1975 death of the longtime Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad. After Warith Deen Muhammad led most of the NOI members into traditional Islam and renamed the group the American Society of Muslims, Farrakhan set up a separate group, at first named Final Call. In 1981 his minority group took back the name of Nation of Islam.
Farrakhan is an advocate of civil rights for African Americans and a critic of the United States government on many issues. For nearly 30 years, Louis Farrakhan has marked himself a notable figure on the extremist scene by making hateful statements targeting Jews, whites and homosexuals. Farrakhan has been both praised and widely criticized for his often controversial political views and outspoken rhetorical style. In October 1995, he helped organize a Million Man March in Washington, DC, calling on black men to renew their commitments to their families and communities.
Louis Eugene Walcott was born on May 11, 1933, in the Bronx, New York. His mother was born in Saint Kitts and his father was a Jamaican native who worked as a taxicab driver. After Louis' father died in 1936, the Walcott family moved to Boston, Massachusetts, where they settled in the West Indian neighborhood of the Roxbury area.
As a child Louis had intense musical training on the violin, receiving his first violin at the young age of six. By the age of thirteen, he had played with the Boston College Orchestra and the Boston Civic Symphony, and just a year later Louis went on to win national competitions. In 1946 he was one of the first black performers to appear on the Ted Mack Original Amateur Hour, where he also won an award. He and his family were active members of the Episcopal St. Cyprian's Church in Roxbury.
In February 1955, while visiting Chicago for a musical engagement, 21 year old Louis Farrakhan was invited to attend the Nation of Islam's Saviors' Day convention. The second leader of the Nation of Islam, Elijah Muhammad had attained his position following the mysterious disappearance of founder W.D. Fard in 1934, and had overseen its growth to tens or hundreds of thousands of members with an extensive network of farms, restaurants, stores, schools, and other businesses and institutions.
