Malcolm and Martin, closer than we ever thought - CNN.com: (CNN) -- The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was leaving a news conference one afternoon when a tall man with a coppery complexion stepped out of the crowd and blocked his path.Malcolm X, the African-American Muslim leader who once called King 'Rev. Dr. Chicken-wing,' extended his hand and smiled.
'Well, Malcolm, good to see you,' King said after taking Malcolm X's hand.
'Good to see you,' Malcolm X replied as both men broke into huge grins while a gaggle of photographers snapped pictures of their only meeting.
That encounter on March 26, 1964, lasted only a minute. But a photo of that meeting has tantalized scholars and supporters of both men for more than 45 years.
As the 85th birthday of Malcolm X is marked on Wednesday, history has freeze-framed him as the angry black separatist who saw whites as blue-eyed devils.
Yet near the end of his life, Malcolm X was becoming more like King -- and King was becoming more like him.
