Research Catalog

Details

Additional authors

1. Elijah Muhammad, 1897-1975.
2. Muhammad, Warith Deen, 1933-2008.
3. Farrakhan, Louis.

Description

1. 0.4 lin. ft. (one box)

Summary

1. The collection consists of core Nation of Islam liturgical texts, instructions and letters from Elijah Muhammad to ministers and members (Laborers, Fruits of Islam and Muslim Girls Training), materials from various Louisiana branches, and several compilations of radio broadcasts, Saviour's Day addresses, published articles, presentations and lectures at spiritual meetings. Also included are religious teachings and exegesis issued as Ministers' Kits in 1975 and 1976, as part of the gradual change introduced by Warith Deen Muhammed after his father's death regarding "the teachings of the Holy Quran as they will be taught by the Office of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad."

Subject

1. Muhammad, Warith Deen, 1933-2008
2. African Americans > Religion
3. Black Muslims
4. World Community of al-Islam in the West
5. Elijah Muhammad, 1897-1975
6. Muslims > United States
7. Nation of Islam (Chicago, Ill.)
8. American Muslim Mission

Call number

1. Sc MG 780

Note

1. Audiotapes transferred to Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division.

Source (note)

1. Swann Galleries 2008 Auction of African-American material

Biography (note)

1. The Nation of Islam was founded in Detroit (Mosque No. 1) in the early 1930s. Elijah Muhammad, its spiritual and supreme leader, established the group's headquarters in Chicago (Mosque No. 2) with significant chapters in New York, Boston, Los Angeles and Philadelphia. Malcolm X, Muhammad's most famous disciple, helped build the Nation of Islam into a national membership organization, from which he resigned in 1964. After Muhammad's death in 1975, his son Warith Deen Muhammed (Wallace Muhammad) steered the organization closer to traditional Islamic beliefs and practices, and renamed it the World Community of al-Islam in the West, and later the American Muslim Mission. A dissident group led by Louis Farrakhan broke away from Muhammed in 1978, and reconstituted the Nation of Islam using the original teachings of Elijah Muhammad.

Provenance (note)

1. Material originally in the possession of Calvin X Kearns who started a Muhammad Mosque in Slidell, Louisiana in 1970. Purchased at Swann Galleries Auction of African-Americana material in February 2008.

Author

1. Nation of Islam (Chicago, Ill.)

Title

1. Nation of Islam collection, 1959-1976.

Biography

1. The Nation of Islam was founded in Detroit (Mosque No. 1) in the early 1930s. Elijah Muhammad, its spiritual and supreme leader, established the group's headquarters in Chicago (Mosque No. 2) with significant chapters in New York, Boston, Los Angeles and Philadelphia. Malcolm X, Muhammad's most famous disciple, helped build the Nation of Islam into a national membership organization, from which he resigned in 1964. After Muhammad's death in 1975, his son Warith Deen Muhammed (Wallace Muhammad) steered the organization closer to traditional Islamic beliefs and practices, and renamed it the World Community of al-Islam in the West, and later the American Muslim Mission. A dissident group led by Louis Farrakhan broke away from Muhammed in 1978, and reconstituted the Nation of Islam using the original teachings of Elijah Muhammad.

Provenance

1. Material originally in the possession of Calvin X Kearns who started a Muhammad Mosque in Slidell, Louisiana in 1970. Purchased at Swann Galleries Auction of African-Americana material in February 2008.

Connect to:

1. Finding Aid

Added author

1. Elijah Muhammad, 1897-1975.
2. Muhammad, Warith Deen, 1933-2008.
3. Farrakhan, Louis.

Research call number

1. Sc MG 780