Malcolm X, also known as Malcolm Little was a civil rights campaigner. He was born in Omaha, Nebraska in 1925 and was the fourth of eight children born to Louise and Earl Little. He also was a part of the Nation of Islam and at that time he believed in separatism(it means African Americans living apart from white people).But when Malcolm X went on pilgrimage of Hajj to mecca he saw different people from all the world. He learnt people should treat each other equally and live together no matter what there color or race. He was killed in1965.

Malcolm X had a very troubled childhood due to racism. His family were continuously attacked by the Ku Klux Klan as his father was a civil rights activist. Eventually his father decided to move the family to East Lansing, Michigan. Instead of things getting better things got worse. A racist mob set fire to their house and the white police and firemen stood and watched the house burn. Sadly, his father died and even though it was most likely white supremacists as he had many death threats they claimed it was suicide so the family could not get life insurance. Malcolm X had to move with family friends as his mother couldn't recover from the shock and grief of her husband's death.

When Malcolm x was in school he was the only black child in the class. He felt they treated him more like a animal than a human being. At the age of 14 in1939 he told the teacher he wanted to be a lawyer but she said “One of life's first needs is for us to be realistic… You need to think of something you can be…why don’t you plan on carpentry?” Having been told there was no point of having any education as he was black he left school the year after and moved to Boston. There he lived with his older half sister, Ella. When he moved there he said Ella was the only person proud of her dark skin. But soon he got involved in the city's crime and was arrested in 1946.In prison he spent his time reading and making up for all the leaning missed by quitting school. Also he joined the nation of Islam whilst in prison. He changed his name from Malcolm Little to Malcolm X.

In 1964 Malcolm X travelled through North Africa and the Middle East. The journey proved to be a major change in his life, politically and spiritually. Malcolm X also made Hajj, the traditional Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, during which time he converted to traditional Islam and again changed his name, this time to El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz. After Mecca, Malcolm X returned to the United States less angry and more hopeful about a peaceful resolution to America's race problems. "The true brotherhood I had seen had influenced me to recognize that anger can blind human vision," he said. Tragically, just as Malcolm X appeared to be trying to change things in the Civil Rights Movement, he was assassinated.

On February 21, 1965 Malcolm X was assassinated by Talmadge Hayer, Norman 3X Butler and Thomas 15X Johnson, all members of Nation of Islam. He was just about to give a speech when they shot him. He was only 39 when he died. Fifteen hundred people attended Malcolm's funeral in Harlem on February 27. In 1965 ‘The Autobiography of Malcolm X’ as told by Alex Healy was published - this was a story about the struggle against racism, and an inspiring spiritual journey, It instantly made Malcolm X one of the great political and spiritual leaders of modern times and made him a hero to future generations of activists.