Don Wildman

In leaps and bounds.

By the time he's interested and reaches out, by the way, this happens in a fascinating way.

He writes a letter from that third prison where he's undergoing a lot of this transformation and study.

He writes a letter to Elijah Muhammad explaining what has happened to him.

And he gets a letter back with a five dollar bill in it, inviting him to come and be a part of this.

Right.

Clarence, explain to me the choice of the name Malcolm X. Where does that come from and what is that tradition?

That's something within the Nation of Islam, is that correct?

Yeah.

And Elijah Muhammad we're talking about was formerly Elijah Poole.

This is what is happening within this organization, a part of self-determination aspect of this.

And discovery.

Yeah.

The nation of

Islam, by the time you're talking about him becoming, I just want to review, as he becomes this charismatic leader serving, as he would say, Elijah Muhammad, opening new temples, recruiting new members to the nation of Islam, this organization grows considerably.

At some point, I guess at its peak, it was some 500,000 members.

Is that true?

Yeah.

Thousands and thousands of people.

And and as you say, media attention begins to is paid and it's major media attention.