Malcolm X

Malcolm X is pictured at JFK International Airport in New York on July 9, 1964, before leaving for the African Nations conference in Egypt. The outspoken civil rights activist and Black Nationalist leader was a leading figure for the Nation of Islam before forming his own religious organization, Muslim Mosque Incorporated. He was born Malcolm Little on May 19, 1925, in Omaha, Neb., to a Baptist preacher and a homemaker.

Malcolm X is pictured at a rally at Lenox Avenue and 115th St., in the Harlem section of New York, in this 1963 file photo. On Feb. 21, 1965, about a year after he broke away from the Nation of Islam, Malcolm was gunned down while speaking at a rally at the Audobon Ballroom in Harlem, New York. He was 37. Three members of the Nation of Islam were later convicted.

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An undated picture of Malcolm X, center, the leader of the Organization for the Afro-American unity.

"My husband was a very dedicated a man, and didn't want luxuries," Malcolm's wife Betty Shabazz told reporters following his death. "He was primarily interested in the condition and the plight, and the upliftment of the Negros in this country. And this is what he died for."

Before he became a prominent black-rights activist and religious leader, Malcolm had been a pimp, a drug dealer and a thief. In 1946, he was arrested for burglary and was sent to prison. During his incarceration, he underwent a conversion and began to study and developed his mind, which eventually led him to join the Nation of Islam.

Dr. Martin Luther King and Malcolm X shake hands after King announced plans for direct action protests if Southern senators filibustered against the 1964 Civil Rights Bill on March 26, 1964.

Oscar-winning actor Denzel Washington portrayed Malcolm in the 1992 film "Malcolm X," which chronicled key events of the leaders life including his childhood, his time - and falling out - with the Nation of Islam, his pilgrimage to Mecca and his assassination. It was directed by Spike Lee and co-starred Angela Bassett and Albert Hall.