Benjamin Chavis Muhammad: An African American Civil Rights Leader

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Introduction Benjamin Chavis Muhammad is an African American civil rights leader. He was born on 22 January, 1948 in Oxford, North Carolina. He has taken his last name Muhammad sometime later in his life. His parents were Benjamin Chavis Sr. and Elisabeth Chavis. He was the only son of his parents among his three siblings. He did his schooling from the orphanage of colored people in North Carolina, where his mother worked as a teacher. Chavis became the member of National Association for Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) at the age of twelve. Chavis is married to Martha Rivera Chavis and has eight children. Chavis served as an assistant to Dr. Martin Luther King at a very young age. As a result, he got inspired to work for Civil Rights Movement. At the age of thirteen, when he was still a wide-eyed boy, he made his first act of protest against racial prejudice. Moreover, Chavis was very influenced from his own family members, other than Dr. Martin Luther King. His great- great- grandfather, John Chavis, who was the first black person to graduate from Princeton University. John Chavis was a revolutionary solider; he was killed in 1838 for teaching slave children writing and reading. At the age of 24, after being wrongly convicted of arson, Chavis gained international fame. He was sentenced for 34 years in prison and was freed in 1980. In 1988, he became the Vice President of National Council of Churches and in 1993, Chavis became the youngest CEO and executive director of NAACP. However, within sixteen months of joining NAACP, he was forced to resign after using some of NAACP fund to stop a sexual harassment lawsuit against him. In 1997, he joined Nation of Islam and adopted the surname Muhammad. He is also a cofounder of... ... middle of paper ... ...994). Chavis, Benjamin 1948–. Retrieved February 24, 2014, from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Benjamin_Chavis_Muhammad.aspx Jackson, E. (2011). Muhammad, Benjamin Chavis (1948- ). Retrieved February 24, 2014, from Black Past: http://www.blackpast.org/aah/muhammad-reverend-benjamin-chavis-1948 Jackson, G. (2005). Benjamin Chavis Muhammed. In We're Not Going to Take it Anymore (pp. 124-126). Beckham Publications Group, Inc. Panel Members. (2014). Retrieved February 26, 2014, from The Brown & Black Presidential Forum: http://www.bbpresforum.org/panel.html Psalms from Prison. (2014). Retrieved February 28, 2014, from AbeBooks: http://www.abebooks.com/9780829806618/Psalms-Prison-Chavis-Benjamin-Jr-082980661X/plp The Brown & Black Presidential Forum. (2014). Panel Members. Retrieved February 26, 2014, from http://www.bbpresforum.org/panel.html

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