IntroductionBenjamin Chavis Muhammad is an African-American civil rights leader. He was born on January 22, 1948 in Oxford, North Carolina. He took his surname Muhammad sometime later in his life. His parents were Benjamin Chavis Sr. and Elisabeth Chavis. He was his parents' only son among his three siblings. He was educated at the Colored People's Orphanage in North Carolina, where his mother worked as a teacher. Chavis became a member of the National Association for the 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 aide to Dr. Martin Luther King from a young age. As a result, he was inspired to work for the civil rights movement. At the age of thirteen, while still a wide-eyed boy, he made his first act of protest against racial prejudice. Additionally, Chavis was greatly influenced by members of his own family, other than Dr. Martin Luther King. His great-great-grandfather, John Chavis, who was the first black graduate of Princeton University. John Chavis was a revolutionary soldier; he was killed in 1838 for teaching writing and reading to slave children. At the age of 24, after being wrongly convicted of arson, Chavis gained international fame. He was sentenced to 34 years in prison and released in 1980. In 1988, he became vice president of the National Council of Churches, and in 1993, Chavis became the youngest CEO and executive director of the NAACP. However, sixteen months after joining the NAACP, he was forced to resign after it used some of the NAACP's funds to end a sexual harassment lawsuit against him. In 1997, he joined the Nation of Islam and adopted the last name Muhammad. He is also a co-founder of......middle of paper......994). Chavis, Benjamin 1948–. Retrieved February 24, 2014 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Benjamin_Chavis_Muhammad.aspxJackson, E. (2011). Muhammad, Benjamin Chavis (1948- ). Retrieved February 24, 2014 from Black Past: http://www.blackpast.org/aah/muhammad-reverend-benjamin-chavis-1948Jackson, G. (2005). Benjamin Chavis Mohammed. In We're Not Gonna Take It Anymore (pp. 124-126). Beckham Publications Group, Inc. Panel Members. (2014). Retrieved February 26, 2014, from Brown & Black Presidential Forum: http://www.bbpresforum.org/panel.htmlPsalms from Prison. (2014). Accessed February 28, 2014 from AbeBooks: http://www.abebooks.com/9780829806618/Psalms-Prison-Chavis-Benjamin-Jr-082980661X/plpThe Brown & Black Presidential Forum. (2014). Panel members. Accessed February 26, 2014 from http://www.bbpresforum.org/panel.html