Malcolm X was an African-American Muslim minister and human rights activist.

When he was six, his father died in what was officially ruled a streetcar accident, though his mother Louise believed Earl had been murdered by the Black Legion.

When he was thirteen, his mother had a nervous breakdown and was committed to a mental hospital.

Malcolm X excelled in junior high school but dropped out after a white teacher told him that law was no realistic goal for a nigger.

From age 14 to 21, he held a variety of jobs while living with his half-sister.

He moved to New York City’s Harlem neighborhood in 1943, where he engaged in drug dealing, gambling, racketeering, robbery, and pimping.

According to biographies, he also had sex occasionally with other men, usually for money.

Malcolm X was declared mentally disqualified for military service. In late 1945, he returned to Boston, where he committed a series of burglaries targeting wealthy white families.

In 1946 was arrested while picking up a stolen watch he had left at a shop for repairs.

In February he began serving an eight-to-ten-year sentence at Charlestown State Prison for larceny and breaking and entering where he became a member of the Nation of Islam.

After his parole in August 1952 Malcolm X visited Elijah Muhammad in Chicago.

In June 1953 he was named assistant minister. Malcolm X was very successful recruiting members on behalf of the Nation of Islam.

Besides his skill as a speaker, Malcolm X had an impressive physical presence. He stood 1.91 m tall and weighed about 82 kg.

Malcolm X proposed during a telephone call to his wife, married two days later and had six daughters.

As his conflict with the Nation of Islam intensified, Malcolm X was threatened.

On February 19th, 1965, Malcolm X told interviewer Gordon Parks that the Nation of Islam was actively trying to kill him.

Two days later in Manhattan’s Audubon Ballroom in front of a 400-person audience he was shot. The autopsy identified 21 gunshot wounds.