Benjamin Chavis Muhammad is an African-American civil rights activist. He was born Benjamin Franklin Chavis, Jr. on January 22 1948 in Oxford, North Carolina, a descendant of educator Rev. John Chavis. Chavis served as a youth coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference on the advance team for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and worked for the presidential campaign of Robert F. Kennedy in 1968. He then returned to Oxford and taught at the all-black Mary Potter High School. He worked to desegregate the public school system in Wilmington, North Carolina where he was arrested on conspiracy and arson charges. Chavis spent nearly a decade in prison, receiving international attention, until the charges were overturned in 1980. Chavis became a leader in the civil rights community, rising to become Executive Director and CEO of the NAACP. He was an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ and in that capacity he was head of the UCC's Commission on Racial Justice. Chavis was also one of the organizers of the Million Man March in 1995. Later, he was forced out of his position at the NAACP due to allegedly paying off a former mistress to keep quiet about their affair. In 1997, Chavis joined the Nation of Islam and changed his name to Benjamin Chavis Muhammad. He tried to keep his UCC credentials but was defrocked for converting to another religion. Chavis Muhammad is currently the CEO of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, which he cofounded with hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons.He also is a member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc as well as an active leader in the African American community. He has been quoted on "Ringing Bells", a track from Masta Killa's album No Said Date. He also appeared on a track called "The Message" on Cassidy's I'm A Hustla. He appeared in Spike Lee's film about the Million March, Get on the Bus.
External links
- The HistoryMakers Biography of Ben Chavis.
- Official Site For Hip-Hop Action Network
- UCC Article on Chavis Muhammad
- The Rise and Demise of Ben Chavis at the NAACP
- Questioning Chavis Muhammad-Benjamin Chavis Muhammad, Nation of Islam
- NAACP Is Out of Touch and in Need of Overhaul
- Ben Chavis joins the Nation of Islam
