Louis Farrakhan

Biography

Louis Farrakhan is an American religious leader who has been the head of the Nation of Islam (NOI) since 1981, an organization which combines black nationalism and Islamic teachings. Prior to the NOI, Farrakhan was a calypso singer who used the stage name Calypso Gene from 1950 to 1955 and a violinist from 1939 to 1955. The longest-serving NOI leader, he also served as minister of several mosques in Boston and Harlem in the 1950s under the leadership of Elijah Muhammad. Farrakhan is most prominent for antisemitic statements and racist remarks directed at white people.