Louis_Abdul_Farrakhan

Louis Abdul Farrakhan Louis Abdul Farrakhan American religious leader, head of the Nation of Islam, a black religious organization in the United States that combines some of the practices and beliefs of Islam with a philosophy of black separatism. Farrakhan preaches the virtues of personal responsibility, especially for black men, and advocates black self-sufficiency. Farrakhan's message has appealed primarily to urban blacks and draws on a long history of black nationalists who have called for black self-reliance in the face of economic injustice and white racism. His more inflammatory remarks have caused critics to claim that he has appealed to black racism and anti-Semitism to promote his views. Born Louis Eugene Wolcott in New York City, Farrakhan grew up in Boston, Massachusetts. He attended Winston-Salem Teacher's College in North Carolina, and worked as a nightclub singer in the early 1950s. In 1955 Malcolm X, a minister for the Nation of Islam, convinced Wolcott to join the organization. Wolcott dropped his last name and became known as Minister Louis X. The practice of dropping surnames is common among black Muslims, who often view them as names that were imposed on slaves and handed down over the years by white society. He later adopted the name Abdul Haleem Farrakhan and came to be known as Louis Farrakhan. Farrakhan's speaking and singing abilities black, nation, islam, farrakhan, malcolm, muhammad, new, wallace, organization, name, farrakhan's, york, white, minister, march, louis, leader, helped, growing, group's, blacks, beliefs, among, world, wolcott, widely, while, united, tour, states, society, responsibility, regarded, radio, racism, primarily, participate, often, muslims, muhammad's, move, mosque, message, massachusetts, man, left, led, later, large, known, killing