Hakim Jamal (centre), Portobello Road

Hakim Jamal is photographed with his arms around two men, holding a copy of his book 'From the Dead Level: Malcom X and me' which was published in 1971 (the same year this picture was taken).

The American Hakim Jamal, real name Alan Donaldson, was a reformed drug addict who, following his committal to an asylum after two attempted murders, underwent a spiritual conversion. He was friends with Michael X, a militant black rights activist who modelled himself after Malcom X. Michael X, the self-styled leader of the Black Power movement, was charged for the murder of Jamal's British girlfriend in Trinidad in 1970. Jamal was shot and died in Boston two years after this photograph was taken.

Charlie Phillips' photograph of Jamal and two friends was exhibited during 'Roots to Reckoning' and acquired by the Museum after the exhibition closed, along with a number of other photographs by him.