The Black Muslims

HRW 3A
May 18, 2001
Rapper Chuck D of the politically charged group Public Enemy once proclaimed that the Black Man did not land on Plymouth Rock as the white pilgrims are believed to have done, but instead Plymouth Rock landed on the Black Man.

It had taken nearly four hundred years for the Black Man to climb from beneath this proverbial rock. Leading the climb during the civil rights movement was the Nation of Islam, the most influential and directional group in the history of Black America.
The history of the Black American begins not in America, but in the Black Mans native continent; Africa. Some four hundred years ago the first Black Man was kidnapped from his home and forced onto a ship taking him to the unknown wilderness of North America. The first Black and the many that followed were to serve one purpose; the white mans slave. Here in North America the Black Man was to pick the white mans cotton, and tend to his every need.

Slavery continued up until January 1st, 1863 with the announcement of the Emancipation Proclamation. The end of slavery was not the end of oppression, for another one hundred years the Black Man was forbidden to drink from the same fountain or even be educated in the same building as his white counterpart. These implications were due to Americas vicious segregation laws. Any Black man who chose not to comply with the rules of the South could expect harsh consequences, the worst of all being lynching. Elijah Muhammad often recalled his experience with lynching to crowds. Young Elijah had come upon a group of white men trailing a Black man at the end of a rope they kicked and insulted him unceasingly when they reached a sturdy tree, one of the men untied the rope from the Black mans wrists and threw it over a branch.

He formed the other end into a noose and slipped it around the Black mans neck the group then hoisted the victim from the ground. After the lynchers were sure the man was dead then as if they had just concluded a days work they strolled away.(Perry 48) The time following the 1863 saw many former slaves and their families move from their brutally racist Southern homes to a more inviting although still racist Northern attitude. Cities like Boston, New York, Detroit and Chicago saw great increases in Black population during the years following the proclamation. Between 1900 and 1930 nearly three million African Americans left the South sending the Black population of the North soaring by four hundred percent. A 1910 census recorded that ninety percent of the nations Black population lived in the South three quarters of them lived in rural areas fifty years later the number reversed three quarters lived in Northern cities.

(Banks 17)
The early part of the 20th century saw a rise in Black lead organizations, religious and secular that were able to reach out the to average Black citizen and provide some much needed strength to his severely damaged psyche. Years of slavery and abuse at the hands of his white slave masters had even the Black man believing he was inferior. A young Malcolm X grew up believing that because I was called nigger so much I figured it was my name. One teacher even went as far to dash young Malcolms ambitions to be a lawyer, for a lawyer thats no realistic goal for a nigger think about something you can be why not carpentry?(Perry 42)
The Universal Negro Improvement Association (U.

N.I.A) was started in Jamaica in 1914. The founder of this movement was Marcus Garvey.

Lack of interest in Jamaica forced Garvey to move his organization to Harlem, NY. Here he thrived, the U.N.I.A had found a home and family. By 1919 the U.

N.I.A had claimed membership of over two million worldwide. Garveys driving desire was to see Blacks be self-educated. The self-education he believed would bring economic independence and power in political positions. He urged followers to have pride in being Black and to separate themselves from the oppressive white man.

Garvey spoke endlessly of the need for universal Black unification and the importance of shedding the heavy skins of poverty and oppression. Garvey would cry up you mighty race you can accomplish what you will.(Perry 23) Garvey promoted Black separatism and saw himself as a Black Moses leading his enslaved nation to the Promised Land. At the forefront of this movement along with the U.N.

I.A was the Noble Drew Ali leading the Moorish Temple. Where as the U.N.I.

A was a non-religious movement aimed at restoring the Black Man to Africa by means of the Black Star Shipping Line, the Moorish Temple provided guidance through religion. Ali fired the imagination of lower class African Americans by claiming that Blacks were superior to whites.(Perry 27) Both the U.N.

I.A and Moorish Temple retained large followings. But neither organization lasted past 1929. As the Black Star Line sank, the U.N.

I.A went down with it. Garvey was sent to a federal penitentiary and after serving almost half his sentence he was deported to Jamaica.(Perry 26) The downfall of the Moorish temple came when Noble Drew Ali was charged with murder, the following crumbled soon after.

As Blacks flocked to the North they were forced to live in the poorer areas of towns, these ghetto areas became concentrated with Blacks, as the whites would simply up and leave, refusing to share neighbourhoods with their Black brethren. Whites attempted to stem the invasion by pooling their resources, buying back properties occupied by Blacks, and evicting them. Whites put pressure on financial institutions to refuse mortgage money to Blacks or to people who rented to them.(Banks 155) White neighbours were willing to pay nearly anything to preserve the racial purity of their immediate surroundings.(Banks 156) The depression only worsened the situation for Blacks that had found a home in the North, the extreme poverty coupled with white hostilities led many to turn to other sources of income and drugs to chase away the feeling of inferiority.

Cocaine and Heroin were popular for chasing away the blues, drugs made him feel less estranged with drugs he didnt need people. Gratification could be achieved without dependence on anyone or anything.(Perry 71) The need for money along with extreme esteem problems due to centuries of rape had some Black women turning to prostitution as a means of survival, this recipe was perfect for pimps to exploit.
During 1932 Temple Number One of the Lost-Found Nation of Islam was founded by Wallace Fard in Detroit.

Within two years he had gained eight thousand followers along with an elementary school, training classes for women and a private security force, the Fruit of Islam. In June 1934 Fard dissapeared and Elijah Muhammad assumed control of the Nation of Islam. Each member was to follow a strict set of rules aimed at bettering himself and his fellow Black man. Members were forbidden to spend any money on alcohol, drugs, gambling or any other vices.

Each member was expected to contribute ten percent of their income to the movement a great portion of their remaining income should be put toward helping other African Americans.(Perry 51) Along with those rules traditional Southern cuisine was frowned upon and seen as unhealthy, especially pork. Muslims were expected to be neatly dressed and well spoken at all times. At the age of seven each member is expected to pray five times a day as any other Muslim would. These rules were followed to a tee, any member who didnt follow these rules could expect a suspension.

The Nation focused a great deal of teachings on the superiority of the Black Man and the separatism required to restore his once proud self. The Negro must think in terms of bettering himself, and he can only do this by thinking in terms of his own Black civilization.(Perry 68) Muhammad taught that the white man would rule for six thousand years and this rule was soon coming to an end. Before this was to happen, Blacks needed to become aware of their history and destiny.

Muhammad urged at economic independence from whites and to fuel this demand he began his build Black, buy Black campaign. To set an example the Nation established a network of stores, bakeries, etc. and by the mid 50s this network was valued at an estimated ten million dollars.(Perry 51)
Membership of the Nation sustained itself at a few thousand during the 1940s.

Over the next decade and a half that figure grew by tens of thousands. During the 1950s the Nation expanded at an astounding pace, and soon national meetings were a part of Nation events. By the end of the 1950s the Nation had 50 temples in operation. The Nation was always reluctant to disclose membership figures but estimates place the figure at around fifty thousand by 1960.

There were many thousands more that were not members but still sympathized with the Nations cause. Much of this tremendous growth was attributed to Brother Malcolm X.
Malcolm Little was born to Earl and Louise Little in Omaha, Nebraska on May 19, 1925. Earl was a member of the U.

N.I.A and was even elected president of the Omaha branch. When Malcolm was six his father died. Malcolm grew up believing that Earl had been killed by whites in retaliation for the spreading of Marcus Garveys word.

On January 9, 1939 Louise Little was adjudged insane and committed to an asylum. Malcolm soon went from foster home to foster home, although he did like some of these places he was never able to fully fit in. Malcolm was put the home of Lois Swerlein for whom he had a motherly fondness of, and they too enjoyed having Malcolm as a part of their home, but they too saw no problem in referring to Malcolm as a nigger.(Banks 39) Malcolm tried to ignore such things, he claimed they bothered him only vaguely.

(Banks 39) on another occasion Malcolm admitted the names did bother him enough to make him wish he were white.(Banks 39) At the age of fifteen Malcolm went to live with his sister Ella in her Boston home. Malcolm soon found a job as a show shiner and later work as a clerk in a soda shop. He soon began to sell and use drugs, and spent his nights on the streets of Roxbury(a Boston suburb) dancing and gambling. In 1941 Malcolm left Roxbury for Harlem, NY. Here he continued his drug use and was drawn into thievery and prostitution.

At the age of twenty he received an eight to ten year sentence for robbery. In prison Malcolms rebellious, hostile behavior often saw him thrown into solitary confinement. He finely started to change after meeting a fellow prisoner, Bambi, and Malcolm soon saw the value in intelligence and enrolled in educational correspondence courses. As he educated himself, he began to see his own experiences from a broader perspective as a Black youth struggling to find a place in American society.(Perry 55) Outside the prison walls Malcolms brothers Philbert and Reginald and his sister Hilda had began writing and telling him of their conversion to the natural religion for the Black man.(Perry 56) Malcolm was deeply moved by the teachings of Elijah Muhammad.

You dont even know who you are The white devil has hidden it from you you have been cut off by the devil white man from all true knowledge of your own kind,(Perry 56) wrote his brother Reginald. Most of the hardship Malcolm could experience at that point in his life could be traced to whites, from the death of his father to the harsh sentence imposed upon him by a white judge for his involvement with a white woman. Malcolm observed that he and Jarvis(Malcolms accomplice in robberies) seemed to be on trial for interracial sex, not burglary, one of them(defense attorneys) angrily exclaimed, you had no business with white girls! Judge Buttrick(judge who presided over Malcolms case) made no bones about his feelings about Black men who slept with white women.(Banks 101) The Nation gave Malcolm a means to vent his pent up rage. His regimen of self-improvement was in keeping with the Nations credo of discipline: mental, spiritual, and moral.

After his release from prison Malcolm became a prominent member in the Nation and elevated it to a national platform. Malcolm continued to preach and draw in newcomers in large numbers, his fiery speeches ignited the pride in many Black hearts. Malcolm experienced difficulties with Elijah Muhammad and on March 8, 1964 he formally announced he was leaving the Nation. Malcolm was assassinated on February 21, 1965.

All three of his murderers were identified as members of the Nation. This combined with Elijahs supposed adultery was another scandal that badly damaged the Nations image.
The Nation continued to function after Malcolms death although it would never attain it former status. Elijah Muhammad died on February 25, 1975 and his son Wallace assumed control.

By October 1976 the Nation of Islam existed no more. In its place would be World Community of al-Islam in the West (WCIW) a group which embraced Orthodox Islam. During March 1978 Louis Farrakhan started the Nation of Islam once again. In December 1994, Farrakhan called for African American men to gather in a massive assembly before the Capitol Building in Washington D.C.

The Million Man March was to demonstrate the Black Mans renewed commitment to himself and community. This march was to ensure that the Black Man would never again be looked at as the criminals, the clowns, the buffoons, the dregs of society.(Perry 118) On October 16, 1995 America witnessed the largest gathering of Black men in its history, this all organized by Farrakhan. Even after years of low membership and more scandals the Nation was able to flex it eternal legacy.
Even though the Nation never attained the same followings as that of the U.

N.I.A or Moorish
Temple it was the Nations timing that is its lasting legacy. The Nation was able to provide strength for the weak legs of the civil rights movement, and although not the sole influence behind the movement it was the strongest force.

The nation will live on forever as an organization that was able to take religion and Black Nationalism, combine them in the perfect formula and fill the gaping emotional hole in Black America with a sense of pride and confidence never witnessed before, or any time after.