Louis Farrakhan

He went into the wedlock early in his life with Betsy Ross (Khardijah Farrakhan). Due to complications in pregnancy, he dropped out of college right after the junior year to take care of her and their first-born.

In 2006, he informed NOI members and supporters of his ill health and sufferance from peptic ulcer. He again underwent bad health in 2007 due to which he underwent a major abdominal surgery.

He recently suffered from heart attack in October 2013 which restricted his public appearance for two months.

Louis Farrakhan was born as Louis Eugene Wolcott to Sarah Mae Manning and Percival Clark in The Bronx, New York. However, his parents separated even before he was born.

He did not know his biological dad and was mostly brought up by his stepfather, Louis Wolcott. However, the death of senior Wolcott in 1936 led to a relocation of his family to Boston, Massachusetts.

Since an early age, he received a rigorous training in violin so much so that by the time he turned thirteen he had mastered the instrument and was playing along with the Boston College Orchestra and Boston Civic Symphony.

In his first year as a teenage, he became one of the first black performers to appear on the Ted Mack Original Amateur Hour. Furthermore, the next year, he had to his credit two national level victories.

Academically, he attended the prestigious Boston Latin School after which he was admitted to the English High School. Graduating from the same, he enrolled for a three-year course at the Winston-Salem Teachers College on a track scholarship.

Starting 1950s, he went on to pursue a career in music. He recorded several calypso albums by the name, ‘The Charmer’. Having toured frequently since his first release, in 1955, he organized a show in Chicago by the name ‘Calypso Follies’.

Interestingly one of the songs remained a chartbuster and on top of the Billboard Chart for five years in a row.

It was while pursuing his professional music career that he first was exposed to the teachings of Nation of Islam, through his friend and saxophonist, Rodney Smith.

Later on, Elijah Muhammad invited him to attend the Nation of Islam’s annual Saviour’s Day address. Inspired by the discourse, in 1955, he resolved to be a member of Nation of Islam (NOI)

He fulfilled all the requirements to become a registered Muslim/ registered believer/ registered labourer of NOI and received an approval by the NOI headquarter in July 1955.

He is the leader of the African American religious movement, the Nation of Islam.