Malcolm X was an African American religious and political leader in the 1950s and 1960s.
Malcolm Little was born on May 19, 1925, in Omaha, Nebraska. His father was a Baptist minister killed in 1931. Malcolm had a difficult childhood. He was removed from his mother’s care at age six and placed in a foster home. As a young man he moved to New York City and became involved in crime. In 1946 Malcolm was arrested for robbery. When he was in jail he learned of the Nation of Islam, or Black Muslims, an ascetic sect. He joined it in 1952. Elijah Muhammad, head of the Nation of Islam, taught that white men were devils and that complete separation of the races was the only solution to racism in America. Malcolm dropped his last name and replaced it with X to symbolize the identity and history that whites had stripped from blacks during slavery. In contrast to Martin Luther King, Jr.’s, advocacy of nonviolence, integration, and inter-racial harmony, Malcolm X utilized fiery rhetoric to launch a fearless assault on America’s racial hypocrisy.
In January 1958, Malcolm married Sister Betty. They had six daughters.
In 1959 Malcolm X went to Africa for the first time, visiting the United Arab Republic (Egypt), Sudan, Nigeria, and Ghana.
More »

Ashoka was the ruler of the Maurya Empire from 273 on 232 BC. After a series of military successes, he conquered a considerable part of South Asia from the present-day Afghanistan to Bengal and further to Mysore. He is known mostly as a great patron of Buddhism. It is said that Ashoka became a Buddhist when he saw the horrors caused by the wars he’d led.
Ashoka was the grandson of Chandragupta and son of Bindusara. His mother was Subhadrangi – daughter of a poor Brahmin. According to legend, the father gave her in the harem, because he received a prophecy that his daughter would be a mother of a great ruler.
Arriving in Ujjain, the capital of Avanti, Ashoka proved to be an excellent governor. He married Shakya Kumari – the daughter of a rich merchant, who gave birth to two children, named Mahendra and Sanghamitra.
Emperor of Bindusara died in 272 BC and Ashoka was crowned as the king of Magadha after his father’s death.
More »

The first book of the Bible tells the story of Abraham. He is important in the major religious traditions of the Jews, Christians, and Muslims. He is considered to be the patriarch, or founding father, of the nation of Israel.
Abraham was born Abram, son of Terah, at the beginning of the second millennium BC in Ur, the capital of Mesopotamia. God changed Abram’s name to Abraham, which means ‘the father of many nations’.
According to the Bible’s account, God instructed Abraham to leave his home in Mesopotamia for an unknown land.
75-year-old Abraham started on this journey together with his wife, Sarah, and some other companions. They reached Canaan (the land that is now Israel).
Sarah was too old to have children and she gave Abraham her slave Hagar, who gave birth to a son, Ishmael.
More »

Mohandas Gandhi was the leader of the campaign for Indian independence from Britain. A Hindu and a religious man, he didn’t believe in violence. He just told people not to obey certain laws. Many times he stopped eating (‘fasted’) as a protest and twice he went to prison. His supporters called him Mahatma, which means ‘great love’. Gandhi’s beliefs have influenced many political movements throughout the world, including the civil rights movement in the United States. Through ahimsa (nonviolence) and satyagraha (true force, nonviolent protest), he led one of the largest mass movements in world history. Gandhi dedicated his life to the quest for truth and justice.
During the Second World War (1939-1945) he told Indians not to fight for Britain. In 1947, the British government finally gave India independence but the country was divided into India and Pakistan.
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born on October 2, 1869 in Porbandar, India. His wealthy family was of a Modh Bania subcaste. He was the fourth child. Mohandas was a small, quiet boy who disliked sports and was only an average student. At the age of 13 he was married to a girl of his own age, Kasturbai.
More »

Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, is also known as Saint Mary, the Virgin Mary, Our Lady, and the Madonna. She is one of the most revered personalities and the greatest of the Christian saints.
According to the Gospel she was the girl from Nazareth.
Maryam is the only woman mentioned by name in the Qur’an (Koran). She miraculously gave birth to God’s messenger and prophet Isa. In Islam, she is known as Ms Mariam and is revered as one of the most righteous women.
The feast of the birth or nativity of Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, is observed on September 8 by the Roman Catholic church. It is also marked on this date by Eastern Orthodox churches, except those that still adhere to the Old Style, or Julian calendar and observe the feast on September 21. Among the Eastern Orthodox, the feast is known as the Nativity of Our Most Holy Lady, the Theotokas, or simply as the Nativity of the Theotokas.
More »

Martin Luther King, Jr. was the most popular and effective leader of the African American struggle for civil rights. He was one of the greatest organizers of people the world has ever seen. King has become a national icon in the history of American progressivism. He used nonviolent, or peaceful, protest to get equal rights for African Americans.
Martin was born on January 15, 1929, Atlanta, the USA. He was the son of a popular Baptist pastor.
At the age of 19 he graduated from the Elite Morehouse College. Then he studied theology at Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania. He pursued his doctorate in theology at Boston University. While in Boston he met Coretta Scott. They married on June 18, 1953 and had four children.
At the age of 26, Martin Luther was appointed pastor of the conservative Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama.
More »

Muhammad was an Arabic preacher of monotheism and the prophet of Islam, the central figure of the religion. He was also a politician, founder and head of the Muslim community (ummah), which during his reign was a strong and enough big state on the Arabian Peninsula.
Muhammad was born on April 22, 571 in Mecca. His father died before Muhammad was born, and his mother died when he was 6. So, Muhammad was raised by his grandfather.
When Muhammad was about 25 years old, he married Khadija, a wealthy widow and a successful businesswoman. Working with his wife, Muhammad earned a reputation for honesty. They had six children. After Khadija’s death, Muhammad married a number of times.
More »