He joined the Black Muslims (Nation of Islam) in 1946 and during the 1950s and early 1960s became a vigorous campaigner against the exploitation of blacks. He advocated the use of violence for self-protection and was opposed to the cooperative approach that characterized the rest of the civil-rights movement. In 1964, after converting to orthodox Islam, he broke away from the Black Muslims and moderated his views on black separatism; he was assassinated the following year.