The 22nd stamp in the Black Heritage series honors Malcolm X, one of the most influential African-American leaders of the 1960s. His controversial ideas sharpened America's debate about racial relations and strategies for social change. Born Malcolm Little in 1925, Malcolm X became the most visible spokesperson for the Nation of Islam in the early 1960s. He later broke away from the organization, disavowed his earlier separatist preaching and supported a more integrationist solution to racial problems. Under the name El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, he attempted to organize an independent movement to put his new ideas into effect. On Feb. 21, 1965, he was shot to death while giving a speech to his followers in Harlem. The photograph featured on the stamp was taken by the Associated Press at a press conference in New York City on May 21, 1964.