Farrakhan, Louis (1933–)

Born in the Bronx, New York, Louis Eugene Walcott grew up in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, where he was an honor student at the Boston Latin School, excelled as a track athlete, and was an active member of the Episcopalian church. After 2 years at Winston-Salem Teachers College in North Carolina, Walcott embarked on a career as a professional violinist and singer and was known in entertainment circles as “Calypso Gene” and “The Charmer.”

Walcott met and was recruited by then-national spokesperson for the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X, in 1955. After writing the requisite letter to Allah (God) and passing the required exam consisting of “Actual Facts,” Walcott became Louis X, which is customary of new recruits to the Nation of Islam is Louis X quickly progressed through the ranks, serving under Malcolm X for 9 months before becoming the minister of the mosque in his home-town of Boston.

After the departure of Malcolm X from the Nation of Islam and his subsequent death in 1965, the now Louis Farrakhan was appointed leader of Temple No. 7, the Harlem branch of the Nation of Islam. Temple No. 7 is second in prominence only to Temple No. 2, the national headquarters located in Chicago. Farrakhan became the National Spokesperson for the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, the head of the Nation of Islam. Farrakhan was also given the important task of introducing Muhammad on Savior's Day, celebrated the last weekend of February in honor of the birthday of Master Fard Muhammad, the founder of the Nation of Islam and whom members regard as the manifestation of Allah (God) in human form.

With the departure of Elijah Muhammad in 1975, his son Wallace D. Muhammad, now Warith Deen Muhammad, assumed the leadership of the Nation of Islam. Dissatisfied with the direction the younger Muhammad took to align the Nation of Islam with the more moderate orthodox Muslim world, Farrakhan parted ways with the new leader and established a new faction of the Nation of Islam in 1978 in accord with the teachings of the older Muhammad. Farrakhan's group, one of four that adhered to the teaching of the Honorable Elijah Mhuammad, remained relatively obscure until March 1984, until his association with presidential candidate Jesse Jackson. The Nation of Islam, which had earlier counseled followers to avoid involvement in political affairs, had thrown its support behind Jackson and provided a national security detail for the candidate when the Secret Service failed to do so after 13 confirmed threats on his life. Farrakhan registered to vote for the first time and urged his followers to do the same. Jackson had returned the favor by appearing as the featured speaker at Savior's Day in 1984.

Although Jackson publicly repudiated the Muslim leader after Farrakahn made a series of controversial remarks during the candidate's 1984 campaign, Farrakhan continued to wield influence among Americans of African descent far beyond the membership of his organization. This was especially evident in the response to the Million Man March he organized in 1995 in Washington, D.C., which attracted an estimated crowd of between 800,000 and 1,000,000. Farrakhan and his wife of nearly 50 years, Betsy, have nine children.

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