Malcolm X, a street hustler converted to Islam, was a far more forceful figure than the Reverend Martin Luther King. He did not ask for tolerance from a white society but demanded respect for black people, frightening liberals and fostering the militancy which would create the Black Power movement
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After a childhood marred by racism, and a brilliant school career, Malcolm Little (as he then was) turned to crime. He became politicized while serving a prison sentence for burglary in Boston, and converted to Islam. Elijah Muhammad, leader of the Black Muslims, became his mentor
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A tremendously effective orator and organizer, Malcolm X became the spokesman for the Nation of Islam, the group founded by Elijah Muhammad. But he became disillusioned when he discovered that Muhammad had fathered four children in adulterous relationships. He also began to question the movement's black racism
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Highly critical of the Nation of Islam's association with white racist groups (Black Muslims are seen here wearing Nazi armbands), Malcolm X left it to form his own Organization of Afro-American Unity in 1964. Tensions between him and the Nation of Islam increased
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Malcolm X's disaffection with the idea of racial segregation was confirmed by a visit to Mecca. Discovering that Islam was "color-blind", he announced: "I no longer subscribe to racism." Now he focused on encouraging Afro-Americans to take pride in their race and culture, to empower them in a multi-racial society
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In the year before he died Malcolm X travelled extensively, visiting Europe and spending many months in Africa. On his visit to Britain, in the racially mixed - and troubled - Smethwick area, near Birmingham, West Indian immigrants were dismayed by his incendiary remarks
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In 1965 Malcolm X was assassinated at a rally in Manhattan by avenging members of the Nation of Islam
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The controversy surrounding Malcolm X's death flared again 30 years afterwards with the arrest of his daughter, Qubilah Shabazz. To avenge her father she had allegedly contracted a hit-man to kill Louis Farrakhan, by now leader of the Nation of Islam, whom she suspected of being involved in the 1965 murder
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In 1992, Malcolm X was introduced to a new audience, complete with tie-in merchandise, by a film about his life. But the enduring image of him remains that of a martyr to the struggle against white oppression, despite the paradox that he was actually killed by Black Muslims
