Malcolm X was an American Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a prominent figure during the civil rights movement. A spokesman for the Nation of Islam (NOI) until 1964, he was a vocal advocate for Black empowerment and the promotion of Islam within the Black community. A posthumous autobiography, on which he collaborated with Alex Haley, was published in 1965.
Malcolm X in March 1964
A Boston police mug shot of Malcolm, following his arrest for larceny (1944)
Muhammad Ali (second row, in dark suit) watches Elijah Muhammad speak, 1964
Malcolm X's only meeting with Martin Luther King Jr., March 26, 1964, during the Senate debates regarding the (eventual) Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Islam in the United States
Islam is the third largest religion in the United States (1%), behind Christianity (63%) and Judaism (2%), and equaling the shares of Buddhism and Hinduism. A 2017 study estimated that 1.1% of the population of the United States are Muslim. In 2017, twenty states, mostly in the South and Midwest, reported Islam to be the largest non-Christian religion. In 2020, the U.S. Religion Census found there to be 4.45 million Muslim Americans, or roughly 1.3% of the population.
The Islamic Center of America located in Dearborn, Michigan near Detroit is the largest mosque in the United States.
Letter of George Washington to Mohammed ben Abdallah in appreciation of the Treaty of Peace and Friendship, signed in 1787.
Yarrow Mamout (Muhammad Yaro), 1819. Portrait by Charles Willson Peale, Philadelphia Museum of Art
Gertrudis Serna & Hadji Ali (Hi Jolly).
