Malcolm X was one of the most influential figures in black Americans’ fight for racial equality. Although much of the U.S. viewed his messaging as controversial, his teachings and leadership led the way for the Black Power and Black Arts movements and widespread use of the popular phrase “Black is beautiful.” During the 1950s and 60s when black Americans were unequivocally seen as inferior to white Americans, Malcolm X helped to provide a sense of confidence and identity that had been missing since the transatlantic slave trade.

Continue on for a peek at the legacy of El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, better known as Malcolm X.

Malcolm X was born in Omaha, Nebraska, as Malcolm Little to Louise Norton Little and Earl Little — a minister and avid supporter of Black Nationalist leader Marcus Garvey. After a troubled youth marked by his father’s murder by a white supremacy group, his mother’s admittance into Kalamazoo State Hospital as a mental patient and a seven-year jail sentence for burglary, Malcolm re-emerged from prison a new man.

As a devout Muslim and a student of the Nation of Islam’s founder Elijah Muhammad, the charismatic Malcolm X used TV, newspapers and radio to communicate messages of black self-esteem and self-reliance. He chose the surname X to symbolize the true African family name that he would never know.

Between 1952 and 1963, Malcolm X was an integral part of the Nation of Islam’s growth from 500 to over 30,000 members. Hundreds of African-Americans joined the Nation each month as Malcolm X continued to influence black Americans to take action and most notably, defend themselves “by any means necessary.”

Malcolm X’s ideologies differed from those of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. While Dr. King preached a message of peace and unity, Malcolm X rejected those ideas, calling for more radical actions like arming black Americans and urging the exodus of all black people back to Africa.

After a contentious separation from the Nation of Islam and Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X found a new religious home as part of Islam’s Sunni denomination. He later founded the Organization of Afro-American Unity, which strongly advocated for Pan-Africanism — a worldwide movement to unify the descendants of the transatlantic slave trade.

Many believe that Malcolm’s rising profile threatened the power of Elijah Muhammad, which led to Malcolm's assassination by three members of the Nation of Islam in 1965. Although he only lived 39 years, Malcolm’s impact on black American culture has endured. The trailblazing community leader inspired millions of black Americans to feel valued, empowered and self-reliant — a sentiment that has been carried on through the decades by the resilient black American community.