Farrakhan, Louis

Farrakhan, Louis (b. Louis Eugene Walcott)

(1933–  ) Black Muslim leader; born in the Bronx, N.Y. He grew up in Roxbury, Mass., and was converted to the Nation of Islam by Malcolm X. Following Malcolm X's defection (1963–64), Farrakhan became the national representative for Elijah Muhammad. When Elijah Muhammad's son allowed whites to join the movement (after 1975), Farrakhan split away and formed a revitalized movement, Final Call to the Nation of Islam. An eloquent and persuasive speaker, he continued to work for black separatism and black economic power. Although he denied being antiwhite or anti-Semitic, he often employed an abrasive rhetoric that alienated such groups, as when he made derogatory statements about Jews during the 1984 presidential primaries on behalf of Reverend Jesse Jackson. In the 1990s, however, Farrakhan began to soften his message and image, and, reviving a talent he had as a young man, even began to play the violin in classical concerts to show that he was not totally opposed to whites and their culture.

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.