orig. Louis Eugene Walcott
born May 11, 1933, Bronx, New York, N.Y., U.S.
U.S. religious leader.
He joined the Nation of Islam in 1955, and for a time he assisted Malcolm X in Boston. After the latter converted to Sunnite Islam, the two became enemies, and Farrakhan replaced Malcolm as minister of Mosque No. 7 in Harlem. He has repeatedly denied involvement in Malcolm's assassination, suspicions of which were based in part on an article he had published in a Muslim newspaper some months earlier. When W. Deen Muhammad, Islam , gradually began integrating the organization into the orthodox Muslim community, Farrakhan broke away and formed his own organization, also called Nation of Islam (1978). A compelling orator whose rhetoric often fell into overt anti-Semitism, Farrakhan was nonetheless effective in encouraging African American self-reliance and unity. He was the main organizer of the Million Man March on Washington in 1995.