Louis Farrakhan

Louis Farrakhan (born Louis Eugene Walcott, May 11, 1933 in Bronx, New York, also known as "The Charmer," a Calypso musician) is the leader of the largely African American Nation of Islam.

Related Topics:
May 11 - 1933 - Bronx, New York - African American - Nation of Islam

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Walcott was raised in the West Indian community in the Roxbury section of Boston. His mother had emigrated from the Caribbean island of Saint Kitts in the 1920s; his father was a Jamaican cab driver from New York but was not involved in his upbringing.

Related Topics:
West Indian - Roxbury - Boston - Saint Kitts - Jamaica

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Early in life Walcott was an up-and-coming calypso singer and violinist who recorded several Calypso albums under the name "The Charmer."http://www.fadetoblack.com/farrakhan/albums.html In 1955, Walcott first came in contact with the teachings of the Nation of Islam after being inspired by Malcolm X and accepting a friend's invitation to attend the Nation of Islam's annual Saviours' Day address by Elijah Muhammad in Chicago, Illinois. Walcott accepted Elijah Muhammad's teachings that day and became "Louis X" later to be renamed Louis Farrakhan by Elijah Muhammad. Nation of Islam doctrine explains that because in mathematics the 'X' represents an unknown variable, followers use it to represent their lost, unknown African surnames. The followers accept this 'X' as a symbol of the rejection of their slave names and the absence of a "proper" Muslim name. Eventually, the 'X' is replaced with an Arabic name more descriptive of a person's personality and character.

Related Topics:
Calypso - Violinist - 1955 - Malcolm X - Saviours' Day - Elijah Muhammad - Chicago, Illinois - Mathematics - Variable - Slave name

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After joining the Nation of Islam, Farrakhan quickly rose through the ranks to become Minister of the Nation of Islam's Boston Mosque. He was appointed Minister of the influential Harlem Mosque from 1965 to 1975.

Related Topics:
Harlem - 1965 - 1975

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After Elijah Muhammad's son, Warith Deen Mohammad, was installed as Supreme Minister of the Nation of Islam, he disavowed many of his father's beliefs and practices. He brought the group closer to mainstream Islam and renamed the organization as the Muslim American Society.

Related Topics:
Warith Deen Mohammad - Muslim American Society

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By 1976 Farrakhan became disillusioned with Warith Deen Mohammad's leadership and quietly walked away from the movement. In 1978 Farrakhan, with a few supporters, decided to rebuild the Nation of Islam. In 1981, he publicly announced the restoration of the Nation of Islam as an organization that followed Elijah Muhammad's teachings.

Related Topics:
1976 - Warith Deen Mohammad - 1978 - 1981

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On October 24, 1989, at the J.W. Marriott Hotel in Washington, DC., Louis Farrakhan stated that he had a vision of being abducted in 1985 by an invisible pilot in a UFO and carried up on a beam of light to a "human built planet" known as the "Mother Wheel." There the voice of Elijah Muhammad informed him that the president and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, under the direction of Gen. Colin Powell, were planning a war, which Farrakhan said he later came to realize was "a war against the black people of America, the Nation of Islam and Louis Farrakhan."

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"I saw a city in the sky," Farrakhan said, after which the UFO "brought me back to Earth and dropped me off near Washington; over to Tyson Corners and Fifth Street I think...to make The Announcement."

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On January 12, 1995, Malcolm X's daughter, Qubilah Shabazz, was arrested for conspiring to kill Farrakhan. It was later alleged that the FBI had used a paid informant, Michael Fitzpatrick, to set up Shabazz. After Shabazz's arrest, Farrakhan held a press conference in Chicago in which he accused the FBI of attempting to exacerbate division and conflict between the Nation of Islam and the family of Malcolm X. Nearly four months later, on May 1, U.S. government prosecutors dropped their case against Shabazz.

Related Topics:
January 12 - 1995 - Qubilah Shabazz

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On May 6, 1995, a packed public meeting in Harlem, New York termed A New Beginning featured Louis Farrakhan and Malcolm X's widow, Betty Shabazz. Originally organized by community activists as a fund raiser for Qubilah Shabazz's legal defense, the meeting marked the first public rapprochement between Farrakhan, the Nation of Islam and the Shabazz family.

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On October 16, 1995 Farrakhan convened a broad coalition of black men in what many say was the largest march in American history, the Million Man March. The calming of Farrakhan's fiery rhetoric in recent years possibly signals a change of direction in the Nation of Islam, and may also be due as well to the seriousness of the advanced prostate cancer with which he was diagnosed years ago, but is evidently now in remission.

Related Topics:
Million Man March - Nation of Islam

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Louis Farrakhan is currently the leader of the Nation of Islam and lives in Chicago, Illinois at the former home of Elijah Muhammad.

Related Topics:
Nation of Islam - Chicago, Illinois

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Farrakhan, along with Malik Zulu Shabazz, leader of the New Black Panther Party, Al Sharpton, Barack Obama and other prominent African-Americans are planning to mark the 10th anniversary of the Million Man March by holding a second march, the Millions More Movement on October 14, 2005 through October 17, 2005, in Washington.

Related Topics:
New Black Panther Party - Al Sharpton - Barack Obama - Million Man March

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