Chuck Bryan

And he had not cleared this with Elijah Muhammad.

And Elijah Muhammad got mad about that as well and left him off the guest list for a convention in February where Cassius Clay, you know, had his coming out as Muhammad Ali.

So that was a very meaningful snub at the time.

Yeah, so that's all basically sort of early through spring 1964.

Later in 1964, a very important trip happened when he made the Hajj to Mecca.

And this was, you know, kind of the final big life-changing moment for him.

He came back a Sunni Islam member and he had changed his name from Malcolm X to Elhaj Malik El Shabazz.

And I believe even his wife and daughters took the name Shabazz like, you know, throughout the rest of their lives as well.

and while he was there he had a transformation another transformation kind of like he did in prison but the other way he came full circle and said uh quote he had encountered pilgrims of all colors from all parts of this earth displaying a spirit of unity and brotherhood like i've never seen before and he essentially flipped and said you know what there are good white people and we can and should work together

And he came back and started to do that work and really poured himself for the first time into the legit official civil rights movement.

Yeah, for sure.

They would eventually meet.

There was a very famous single meeting with Martin Luther King Jr.

and Malcolm X. It was not something they planned because it's not like Martin Luther King Jr.

got on board immediately and was like, oh, great, you're joining the movement.

Like, I don't think he still really liked him that much.

But they literally bumped into each other in the hallway,

When they were at the Senate, when the civil rights bill was being debated there at the Capitol building, and it was like, oh, it's you.

And they shook hands.

I think he told them in person, I'm throwing myself into the heart of the civil rights struggle face to face.