(born 1933) Louis Walcott grew up in Boston, MA where he became an accomplished musician, playing in the city’s nightclubs. In 1955 he was recruited by Malcolm X for the Nation of Islam, and became Louis X (referred to in Malcolm X’s Autobiography (1965)). He was given the name Farrakhan by Elijah Muhammad about the same time that he replaced Malcolm as head of the Black Muslim Temple in Harlem, New York and as national spokesman for the organization. Three years after not being picked to succeed Elijah Muhammad on his death in 1975, Farrakhan broke with Wallace Muhammad and established his own Nation of Islam, which he said was the legitimate successor to the earlier organization. Unlike Muhammad, Farrakhan has engaged in politics extensively supporting Jesse Jackson for president in 1984, taking positions in international affairs supporting Libya’s Khadafi and making a series of widely reported anti-Semitic remarks.

His influence extends beyond the Nation of Islam, as shown in his organization of the 1996 Million Man March in Washington, DC.