Happy Birthday, Malcolm X (video)

Malcolm X, who was born Malcolm Little (May 19, 1925–February 21, 1965), was an African-American human rights activist and former Muslim minister who was a popular figure during the civil rights movement in the early 1960s, a status only enhanced by intrigue and government complicity around his assassination.

MLK Jr. with "Thay" or Ven. Thich Nhat Hanh

He is best known for his time spent as a vocal spokesman for the Nation of Islam, an American movement to liberate oppressed Blacks in the USA. He is often compared to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., as if he were the flipside to the Christian minister's pacificist peace at all costs position with his famous quote, "By all means necessary." MLK Jr. had Vietnamese Buddhist monk and fellow peace activist friend Thích Nhất Hạnh, but Malcolm X took his cues from the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad. One decried violence like Mahatma Gandhi, but the other was more interested in being practical and this-worldly.