4.3.1
The Nation of Islam & Malcolm X
The Nation of Islam (NOI)
The Nation of Islam (NOI)
The Nation of Islam was formed in the United States in the 1930s.
Wallace Fard Muhammad (Fard)
Wallace Fard Muhammad (Fard)
- The NOI was founded by Wallace Fard Muhammad (Fard).
- Fard stated that Allah (God) created humans and that the first humans, created 6000 years ago were black.
- He argued that an evil scientist Yacub started selective breeding to create white people.
- Fard stated that these white people were morally weak and enslaved other people who were not white.
- This ideology started the theory of black supremacism.
Aims of the Nation of Islam
Aims of the Nation of Islam
- The NOI organisation wanted to:
- Provide African Americans with an alternative to the white Christian Church.
- Encourage African American’s to lead a very religious life.
- Increase black self-esteem.
- Teach that black and white people should remain separate and that the economic situation should be improved for black Americans.
- The NOI wanted to create a new country in Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, which would only contain black citizens.
Malcolm X's preaching
Malcolm X's preaching
- The NOI set up temples in black ghettos and Malcolm X rose to be one of their most effective preachers.
- Malcolm X taught black people that they should actively fight against their oppression using violence where necessary and not simply ‘turn the other cheek’ as Martin Luther King advocated.
- Malcolm X also preached that black people should live a separate life to that of white people.
- Malcolm X preached Black Nationalism and Black Power. This was a very different message to that of Martin Luther King.
Popularity of the NOI
Popularity of the NOI
- By 1960 the NOI had around 100,000 members, many of them lived in ghettos.
- Because the NOI did not want racial harmony and cohabitation it was often labelled as an unrealistic and unhelpful hate group.
- The NOI created jobs for people by establishing restaurants and bakeries within the ghettos.
- The group encouraged black people to fight for a better life, express their racial pride and to improve their economic position.
- They wanted their followers to live a pure life by not drinking, smoking or dressing flamboyantly.
Malcolm X
Malcolm X
Malcolm X grew in popularity during the Civil Rights movement after the Nation of Islam was formed in the United States in the 1930s.
Malcolm X's Life
Malcolm X's Life
- Malcolm X had suffered massively at the hands of white men.
- He grew up poor, his 3 uncles were murdered by white men, his father’s home was torched and there is also evidence to suggest that the Black Legion (white racist organisation) murdered his father.
- He disliked Martin Luther King and his ideology, stating that the ‘white man is the devil’.
Malcolm X and Christianity
Malcolm X and Christianity
- Malcolm X heavily criticised the Christian Church which he believed elevated the white man over black people.
- Malcolm X argued all figures in the white man’s Christianity were white and only the devil was black.
- He urged people to reject Christianity as not only was it racist but it taught black people to be submissive to whites.
The Organisation of Afro-American Unity (OAAU)
The Organisation of Afro-American Unity (OAAU)
- Malcolm X thought that black people should more actively oppose the violence they suffered at the hands of white people. So, he left the NOI to set up his own organisation, the OAAU, in the 1960s.
- He taught that black people would only be free if they controlled their own communities.
- Malcolm X received a lot of negative press. Many people did see him as a man who inspired hate.
- He did, however, draw attention to the horrific conditions of black ghettos. He also inspired prominent figures in CORE and SNCC into the Black Power movement.
1‘Free at Last’ 1865-77
1.1The Thirteenth Amendment
1.2Radical Reconstruction, 1867-77
2The Triumph of ‘Jim Crow’ 1883-c1890
2.1Jim Crow Laws & Civil Rights Cases
3The New Deal and Race Relations, 1933–41
3.1Failure to Address Black Grievances
3.2The New Deal
3.3The Second World War
4‘I have a dream’, 1954–68
4.1Civil Rights Activities, 1954–63
4.2Civil Rights 1964-68
4.3Malcolm X & The Black Panthers
5Obama's Campaign for the Presidency, 2004–09
5.1The Late 20th Century
5.2Barack Obama & his Political Career
5.3Reasons for Obama's Victory
Jump to other topics
1‘Free at Last’ 1865-77
1.1The Thirteenth Amendment
1.2Radical Reconstruction, 1867-77
2The Triumph of ‘Jim Crow’ 1883-c1890
2.1Jim Crow Laws & Civil Rights Cases
3The New Deal and Race Relations, 1933–41
3.1Failure to Address Black Grievances
3.2The New Deal
3.3The Second World War
4‘I have a dream’, 1954–68
4.1Civil Rights Activities, 1954–63
4.2Civil Rights 1964-68
4.3Malcolm X & The Black Panthers
5Obama's Campaign for the Presidency, 2004–09
5.1The Late 20th Century
5.2Barack Obama & his Political Career
5.3Reasons for Obama's Victory
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