Going Back to Our Own Interpreting Malcolm X's Transition From “Black Asiatic” to “Afro-American”

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Notes

1. Malcolm X, “Black Man's History,” in Imam Benjamin Karim, ed., The End of White World Supremacy (New York: Seaver Books, 1971), p. 26.

2. Ibid., pp. 11, 13.

3. See Alan Dershowitz's comment in Malcolm X, Archie Epps, ed., The Speeches of Malcolm X at Harvard (New York: William Morrow & Company, Inc., 1968), p. 161.

4. Malcolm claimed that “the teachings of Mr. Muhammad stressed how history had been ‘whitened'when white men had written history books, the black man simply had been left out. Mr. Muhammad couldn't have said anything that would have struck me much harder.” Malcolm X, The Autobiography of Malcolm X (New York: Ballantine Books, 1992), p. 201.

5. Richard Brent Turner's Islam in the African-American Experience (Indianapolis: University of Indiana Press, 1997) is one exception and I rely heavily on his important work throughout this essay. However, Turner's work covers the variety of Muslim religious identities that crop up throughout African-American history, sparing relatively little time on Malcolm's own ideas about his ancestors.

6. Turner, Islam, pp. 73, 75.

7. Hans A. Baer and Merrill Singer, African-American Religion in the Twentieth Century: Varieties of Protest and Accommodation (Knoxville; University of Tennessee Press, 1992), p. 51.

8. Arthur Fauset, Black Gods of the Metropolis: Negro Religious Cults in the Urban North (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1975), pp. 52–68 for Father Divine, pp. 31–41 for the Church of God.

9. Ibid., pp. 107–108. In using the term “cult,” Fauset was simply referring to the size of the sect and the strength and unusual charisma of the leader.

10. This, of course, was not the first time the idea of returning to Africa was publicly expressedchurch leaders in the mid-nineteenth century first advocated and acted on this idea. See Gayraud S. Wilmore, Black Religion and Black Radicalism: An Interpretation of the Religious History of African Americans, 3rd edition (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1998), pp. 125–162. For a comprehensive look at the man behind the movement, see E. David Cronon's biography, Black Moses: The Story of Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1969).

11. Erdmann Doane Beynon, “The Voodoo Cult Among Negro Migrants in Detroit,” American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 43, Issue 6 (May 1938): 898; and E.U. Essien-Udom, Black Nationalism: A Search for An Identity in America (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1962), p. 58.

12. Philip Potter, “The Religious Thought of Marcus Garvey,” in Rupert Lewis and Patrick Bryan, eds., Garvey: His Work and Impact (Trenton, N.J.: Africa World Press, 1991), pp. 161–162.

13. Arnold Hughes, “Africa and the Garvey Movement in the Interwar Years,” in Rupert Lewis and Maureen Warner-Lewis, eds., Garvey: Africa, Europe, and the Americas (Trenton, N.J.: Africa World Press, 1994), p. 102.

14. According to Turner, The Aquarian Gospels of Jesus Christ is “an occult version of the New Testament” and Unto Thee I Grant was published by the Rosicrucians, a Masonic order which is preoccupied with Egyptian mysticism. Turner, Islam, pp. 93–94. Curiously, the only white, mainstream Masonic lodge that accepted Black members in the early twentieth century was the Alpha Lodge No. 116, located in New Jersey. While it is possible that Drew Ali was aware of the Alpha Lodge's mixed membership, it is doubtful that he had direct connections to this lodge. See William J. Whalen, Christianity and American Freemasonry (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1998), p. 29.

15. Fauset, Black Gods, p. 41; Turner, Islam, pp. 92–93, 96.

16. Fauset, Black Gods, p. 47.

17. Turner, Islam, p. 93.

18. Fauset, Black Gods, p. 47. Associating Black people in America with North Africans (and other people of color who tend to be light-complexioned) perhaps reflects the politics of color and its relationship to statusideas that were pervasive in this period. For example, Malcolm X remarks on the favoritism his father showed him (in the late 1920s) and asserts that it was due to him being the lightest child. See Autobiography, pp. 5, 7.

19. Jose V. Pimienta-Bey, Some “Myths” of the Moorish Science Temple: An Afrocentric Historical Analysis, doctoral dissertation submitted to the Temple University Graduate Board (Ann Arbor, Mich.: UMI, 1995), p. 243.

20. Sister Denke Majied, one of Fard's early followers. Quoted in Beynon, “The Voodoo Cult,” p. 895.

21. Ibid., p. 897.

22. Ibid., pp. 898–899.

23. See Clifton E. Marsh, From Black Muslims to Muslims: The Transition from Separatism to Islam 1930–1980 (Metuchen, N.J.: The Scarecrow Press, 1984), p. 51; Karl Evanzz, The Messenger: The Rise and Fall of Elijah Muhammad (New York: Vintage Books, 1999), p. 68.

24. Beynon, “The Voodoo Cult,” p. 900. Beynon uses the spelling “Shebazz;” in this essay I will write “Shabazz” because this is the spelling used in NOI literature.

25. Ibid., p. 906.

26. Turner, Islam, p. 154.

27. Fard had initially named Poole “Karriem,” but later upgraded it to “Muhammad.” See C. Eric Lincoln, The Black Muslims in America, 3rd edition (Trenton, N.J.: Africa World Press, 1994), p. 15. Other members would later substitute an “X” for their slave names. The “X” signified an unknown family lineage, but it also, perhaps, represented Fard's teaching about their lost culture, which included “higher mathematics.” For a thorough description of the process of discarding slave names, see Lincoln, pp. 105–106.

28. Beynon, “The Voodoo Cult,” p. 907.

29. Essien-Udom, Black Nationalism, p. 63.

30. Marsh, From Black Muslims, p. 56.

31. Beynon cites two key “textbooks” authored by Fard: Teaching for the Lost Found Nation of Islam in a Mathematical Way and Secret Ritual of the Nation of Islam. The Bible was used in the early period, presumably before Fard's texts were composed. Teaching … in a Mathematical Way was written in code, requiring Fard's interpretation. At the time of Beynon's writing (1939), few copies of Secret Ritual existed; the knowledge was transmitted orally. See Beynon, “The Voodoo Cult,” pp. 895, 898 and Lincoln, The Black Muslims, p. 14.

32. Elijah Muhammad's Message to the Black Man in America (Chicago: Muhammad Mosque of Islam No. 2, 1965) provides the most comprehensive description of the histories of whites and the original people, but this study concerns the NOI's beliefs during Malcolm's lifetime (1925–1965).

33. In July 1959, “The Hate That Hate Produced,” an inflammatory news report on the Nation of Islam, aired in five installments on WTNA-TV in New York. Malcolm X, Autobiography, pp. 271, 273–276.

34. Nat Hentoff, “Elijah in the Wilderness,” The Reporter, Vol. 23 (August 4, 1960): 39–40.

35. From late 1959 to early 1960, Elijah Muhammad and a few of his sons visited Asia and Africa. There they discovered that Muslims in the East call their places of worship “mosques” (when speaking English). Consequently, in early 1960, Elijah Muhammad ordered the Nation's ministers to rename their temples “mosques.” Hence I will retain the term “temple” when referring to NOI places of worship prior to 1960. See Evanzz, The Messenger, p. 214.

36. FBI Teletype, Malcolm X FBI File, July 11, 1957. Activities of Little in New York, New York on June 21, 1957.

37. Malcolm X, “Black Man's History,” p. 48 (original emphasis). Elijah Muhammad offered an abbreviated version of the story at a 1960 Chicago convention. See Bontemps and Conroy, Anyplace, p. 226.

38. Malcolm X, “Black Man's History,” pp. 44–49.

39. Malcolm X, Autobiography, p. 187. Perhaps his siblings were guided more by the Garveyite elements in Nation of Islam doctrine, since this type of thinking was central to how they were raised. See Ted Vincent, “The Garveyite Parents of Malcolm X,” The Black Scholar (March/April 1989): 10–13.

40. Malcolm X, “God's Judgment of White America” in Imam Benjamin Karim, ed., The End of White World Supremacy (New York: Seaver Books, 1971), pp. 126–127 (original emphasis). This was a common theme for Malcolm throughout his tenure with the Nation of Islam. For example, the FBI cites a speech at a meeting of the Chicago Temple in 1955 or 1956, “He [informant] advised that Little cited the ordeals encountered by the children of Israel when they were held captive by the Egyptians in biblical times and likened this to the condition of the Negro in America today.” FBI Teletype, Malcolm X FBI File, April 23, 1957, “Activities of Little in Chicago, Illinois,” p. 16.

41. Malcolm X, “Black Man's History,” p. 64.

42. Ibid., pp. 42–43.

43. Imam Benjamin Karim, “Introduction,” in Imam Benjamin Karim, ed., The End of White World Supremacy (New York: Seaver Books, 1971), pp. 16–17. Malcolm himself remarked on his pedagogical style, “I had learned early one important thing, and that was to always teach in terms that the people could understand.” Malcolm X, Autobiography, p. 254.

44. See, for example, Mahmood Mamdani, When Victims Become Killers (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001), pp. 81–82.

45. Edith R. Sanders, “The Hamitic Hypothesis: Its Origin and Functions in Time Perspective,” The Journal of African History, Vol. 10, no. 4 (1969): 524.

46. Given Malcolm's emphasis on hair politics while preaching for the NOI, it is curious that he did not reconcile this inconsistency in any of his letters or speeches. See Malcolm X, Autobiography, pp. 62–65.

47. Beynon, “The Voodoo Cult,” p. 900. James Henry Breasted, The Conquest of Civilization (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1926). Hendrik Van Loon, The Story of Mankind (London: George G. Harrap & Co., 1922).

48. Breasted, Conquest, p. 117.

49. Ibid., p. xiii.

50. Lincoln, Black Muslims, pp. 114–115. Minister Louis X later took the name Louis Farrakhan.

51. Ibid., p. 113. Note that Breasted wrote, “Great White Race” in capitals and “Negro” and “Negroid” in lower-case letters.

52. Ibid.

53. Van Loon, Story of Mankind, p. 22.

54. Beynon, “The Voodoo Cult,” p. 900.

55. Turner, Islam, pp. 53, 93, 162.

56. Elijah Muhammad, The Fall of America (Chicago: Muhammad's Temple of Islam No. 2, 1973), p. 150.

57. Wilson Jeremiah Moses, Black Messiahs and Uncle Toms: Social and Literary Manipulations of a Religious Myth (University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1982), pp. 183–184, 189.

58. Moses, Black Messiahs, p. 189. Seligman's major text is Races of Africa (London: Oxford University Press, 1930).

59. For a summary of the effects of the Hamitic Hypothesis on Black theology in nineteenth-century America, see Wilmore, Black Religion, pp. 145–147. For the influence of the Hamitic Hypothesis on the Hutus and Tutsis, see Mamdani, When Victims, pp. 79–87. For work on Nigeria, see Philip S. Zachernuk, “Of Origins and Colonial Order: Southern Nigerian Historians and the ‘Hamitic Hypothesis' c. 1870–1970,” Journal of African History, Vol. 35 (1994): 427–455. For the role of the Hamitic Hypothesis in justifying slavery, see Robin Blackburn, “The Old World Background to European Colonial Slavery,” William and Mary Quarterly (3rd Ser), Vol. 54, no. 1 (January 1997): 90–97 and Benjamin Braude, “The Sons of Noah and the Construction of Ethnic and Geographical Identities in the Medieval and Early Modern Periods,” William and Mary Quarterly (3rd Ser), Vol. 54, no. 1 (January 1997), 103–142. For the role of the Hamitic Hypothesis in African Historiography, see Joseph C. Miller, “History and Africa/Africa and History,” The American Historical Review, Vol. 104, Issue 1 (February 1999): 1–32. For the use of the Hamitic Hypothesis in interpreting the ruins at Great Zimbabwe, see Martin Hall, “The Legend of the Lost City: Or, the Man with Golden Balls,” Journal of Southern African Studies, Vol. 21, No. 2 (June 1995): 179–199.

60. Sanders, “Hamitic Hypothesis,” p. 522.

61. Mamdani, When Victims, p, 82.

62. Sanders, “Hamitic Hypothesis,” p. 526.

63. Mamdani, When Victims, pp. 82–83.

64. Sanders, “Hamitic Hypothesis,” p. 529.

65. DeCaro, On the Side of My People: A Religious Life of Malcolm X (New York: New York University Press, 1996), p. 122.

66. Malcolm X, “The Old Negro and the New Negro,” Imam Benjamin Karim, ed., The End of White World Supremacy (New York: Seaver Books, 1971), p. 106.

67. Malcolm X, “A Declaration of Independence,” George Breitman, ed., Malcolm X Speaks (New York: Grove Weidenfeld, 1990), p. 20. The idea of going back to Africa does not necessarily contradict the Shabazz narrative, since the Tribe of Shabazz presumably called it home for the 50,000 years prior to their enslavement.

68. See M.S. Handler, “Malcolm X Splits with Muhammad,” New York Times, March 9, 1964, p. 1; “Malcolm's Brand X,” Newsweek, March 23, 1964, p. 32.

69. “Malcolm X Flees For Life: Muslim Factions at War,” New York Amsterdam News, June 20, 1964, pp. 1–2.

70. Malcolm X, Autobiography, p. 484.

71. In his eviction trial appearance, before dozens of Elijah Muhammad's followers, Malcolm accused Muhammad of “fathering almost a dozen illegitimate children.” See “Malcolm X Flees For His Life,” Pittsburgh Courier, July 11, 1964, p. 4.

72. See “Malcolm X Flees For Life: Muslim Factions at War,” New York Amsterdam News, June 20, 1964.

73. Malcolm X, The Speeches … at Harvard, pp. 167–168.

74. See “The Oppressed Masses of the World Cry Out for Action Against the Common Oppressor,” in Steve Clark, ed., February 1965: The Final Speeches (New York: Pathfinder Press, 1992), p. 53; “Educate Our People in Politics,” in February 1965, p. 94; “Not Just an American Problem,” in February 1965, pp. 157, 161; and “A Global Rebellion of the Oppressed Against the Oppressor,” in February 1965, p. 178.

75. Malcolm X, George Breitman, ed., Malcolm X On Afro-American History (New York: Pathfinder Press, 1967), pp. 17–18.

76. Malcolm X at the Boston University Human Relations Center, February 15, 1960. Lincoln, Black Muslims, pp. 64–65. Minnie Minoso is the baseball legend who broke Chicago's “color barrier” when he signed with the White Sox in 1951.

77. Ibid.

78. Malcolm X, On Afro-American History, pp. 17–18.

79. This letter was published internationally. See, e.g., “An Open letter from Malcolm X,” Uganda Argus (Kampala), July 28, 1964, p. 2, in Box 1, Aliya Hassen Papers, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan. The collection also contains the press release on Muslim Mosque, Inc. letterhead, dated April 20, 1964.

80. Malcolm X, On Afro-American History, p. 15.

81. Malcolm X, “Not Just an American Problem,” p. 147; also see Malcolm X, WINS Panel Discussion, in February 1965, p. 204.

82. Malcolm X's daughters placed a presumably extensive collection of Malcolm's speeches, letters, photos, and diaries on long-term deposit with the New York Public Library's Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in late December 2002/early January 2003. As of this writing, some of the materials have been processed, but nothing has been released. Some of the “most significant” items are diaries written during Malcolm's trips to Asia and Africa in 1964. In the epilogue to the Autobiography, Alex Haley recalled that Malcolm withheld information from him about his trip, because he was hoping that his “carefully kept diary might be turned into another book.” This suggests that a wealth of information about Malcolm's meetings and contacts in Africa can be found in the diaries at the Schomburg Center. See “Malcolm X Papers Will Come to New York Public Library's Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture,” Schomburg Center Press Release, January 7, 2003, available online at http://www.nypl.org/press/malcolmx.cfm.

83. Malcolm X, “There's A Worldwide Revolution Going On,” in February 1965, p. 132.

84. Malcolm X, WINS Panel Discussion, in February 1965, p. 205.