Louis Farrakhan is a prominent African-American religious leader and black activist who heads the Nation of Islam, an African-American movement and organization rooted in elements of traditional Islam and black nationalism founded in 1930. Earlier in his career, he served as the minister of mosques in Boston and Harlem and was appointed National Representative of the Nation of Islam by former NOI leader Elijah Muhammad in 1978. In rebuilding the Nation of Islam, Minister Farrakhan has renewed respect for the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, his Teachings and Program. Farrakhan still maintains a grueling work schedule. He has addressed diverse organizations, been received in many Muslim countries as a leading Muslim thinker and teacher, and been welcomed throughout Africa, the Caribbean and Asia as a champion in the struggle for freedom, justice and equality.

Farrakhan grew up in an immigrant family with both of his parents having immigrated to the United States from the Caribbean. Farrakhan was raised by his mother in a highly disciplined and spiritual household in Roxbury, Massachusetts. Farrakhan studied music while attending Winston-Salem Teachers College, but dropped out after three years to pursue a career in music. He went on to perform on the Boston nightclub circuit and was known as “The Charmer.” Farrakhan was a violinist, guitarist and singer. He often sang political lyrics to Caribbean music. Farrakhan wrote two plays, "The Trial" and "Orgena," which is "a Negro" spelled backwards.

The musically inclined Farrakhan used his talents in the service of the Nation of Islam. While performing in Chicago, he was invited to attend a meeting of the group, which Elijah Muhammad started in 1930 in Detroit. Although music had been his first love, within one month after joining the Nation of Islam in 1955, Minister Malcolm X told the New York Mosque and the new convert Louis X that Elijah Muhammad had said that all Muslims would have to get out of show business or get out of the Temple. Most of the musicians left Temple No. 7, but Louis X, later renamed Louis Farrakhan, chose to dedicate his life to the Teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad.

As the leader of the NOI Farrakhan has done much to promote the Islamic faith and the civil rights of Black Americans. In 1979, he founded The Final Call, an internationally circulated newspaper that follows in the line of The Muhammad Speaks. In 1993, Minister Farrakhan penned the book, “A Torchlight for America,” which applied the guiding principles of justice and good will to the problems perplexing America. In 1995 he coordinated the successful Million Man March on the Mall in Washington, D.C., which drew nearly two million men. Farrakhan was inspired to call the March out of his concern over the negative image of Black men perpetuated by the media and movie industries, which focused on drugs and gang violence. In October 2005, Farrakhan called on people across the globe to participate in the Millions More Movement, which convened back at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. on the 10th Anniversary of the Historic Million Man March. Farrakhan launched a prostate cancer foundation in his name on May 10, 2003. First diagnosed in 1991 with prostate cancer, he survived a public bout and endured critical complications after treatment that brought him 180 seconds away from death. Also in 2005, Minister Louis Farrakhan was voted as BET.com’s “Person of The Year” as the person users believed made “the most powerful impact on the Black community over the past year.”

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