BLACK NATIONALISM
A Search for an Identity in America
by
E.U. Essien-Udom
The University of Chicago Press
(c) 1962
Third Impression 1967
Lib. of Congress Card Number : 62-12632

page vi
"There is no sense in hate; it comes back to you; therefore, make your history so laudable, magnificent and untarnished, that another generation will not seek to repay your seeds for the sins inflicted upon their fathers. The bones of injustice have a peculiar way of rising from the tombs to plague and mock the iniquitous.
		Marcus Garvey"


Preface
p. vii
"The tragedy of the Negro in America is that he has rejected his origins - the essentially human meaning implicit in the heritage of slavery, prolonged suffering, and social rejection. By rejecting this unique group experience and favoring assimilation and even biological amalgamation, he thus denies himself the creative possibilities inherent in it and in his folk culture. This "dilemma" is fundamental; it severely limits his ability to evolve a new identity or a meaningful synthesis, capable of endowing  his life with meaning and purpose."

written...
period of two years; in Chicago and New York City; help ... 
p. viii 
"Minister Malcolm X of the New York Temple, who has been described as the "Nation's Ambassador at Large," proved to be of great assistance concerning the ideological questions and administrative problems posed by the movement."
Mr. Muhammad & his wife, Sister Clara Muhammad, their sons Minister Wallace D. Muhammad and Mr. Akbar Muhammad, Minister James 3X (Anderson) ( Mr. Muhammad's assistant in Chicago)

p.135

Herald-Dispatch, March 5, 1959, pp3
"... We American Negroes who have no economic security, no education, no common knowledge of ourselves, no surnames, with pure blood that has been polluted by the exploitation and sexual mixture of the slavemaster, must at this time, make a last ditch stand and demand HANDS OFF AFRICA ..."

p. 163

Frederick Douglass, "Life and Times of Frederick Douglass Written by Himself" (Hartford, Conn. : Park Publishing Company, 1882), p. 501 :
"A race which cannot save its earnings, which spends all it makes and goes into debt when it is sick, can never rise in the scale of civilization, no matter under what laws it may chance to be. Put us in Kansas or in Africa, and until we learn to save more than we spend, we are sure to sink and perish. It is not in the nature of things that we should be equally rich in this world's goods. Some will be more successful than others, and poverty, in many cases, is the result of misfortune rather than of crime; but no race can affoord to have all its members the victims of this misfortune, without being considered a worthless race."
Cf. Booker T. Washington, "Up from slavery", pp. 223-224
"The wisest among my race understand that the agitation  of questions of social equality is the extremest of folly, and that progress in the enjoyment of all the privileges that will come to us must be the result of severe and constant struggle rather than of artificial forcing. No race that has anything to contribute to the markets of the world is long in any degree ostracized. It is important and right that all privileges of the law be ours, but it  is vastly more important that we be prepared for the exercises of these privileges..."

p. 164 E.Muhammad's "Economic Blue Print for the Black Man" (part) , Herald-Dispatch (L.A.), Nov. 21, 1959, p.8
"1.) Recognize the necessity for unity and group operation (activities).
  2.) Pool your resources; physically as well as financially
  3.) Stop wanton criticisms of everything that is black-owned and black operated
  4.) Keep in mind - Jealousy Destroys From Within
  5.) Observe the operations of the White Man. He is successful. He makes no excuse for his failure. He works hard - 
	in a collective manner. You do the same ...."


p. 250
"It is entirely natural  for man to want to be equal of man. It is natural, again, for man to love the Brotherhood of Man (except the man devil).
Further, it is natural for man to love FREEDOM for himself, for Freedom is essential for life, and to love JUSTICE for himself, for without Justice there is no joy in freedom and equality."
		THE SUPREME WISDOM  (by E.M.)

p. 231
"The education and training of our children must not be limited to the "Three Rs (reading, 'riting and 'rithmetic)" only. It should instead include the history of man and the Universe, and all sciences. It is necessary that the young people of our Nation learn all they can. Learning is a great virtue and I would like to see all the children of my followers become the possessors of it. It will make us an even greater people tomorrow."
		Elijah Muhammad

p. 254
Islamic News (Chicago), July 6, 1959, p.2
"It is beyond comprehension that the American government, - mistress of the Seas, Lord of the air, conqueror of outer space, squire of the land and prowler of the deep bottoms of the oceans - is unable to defend us from assault, rape and murder on the streets of these concrete jungles. What sane man can deny that it is now time that you and I take counsel among ourselves to the end of finding justice for ourselves."

p. 160
final session of the 1960 Convention
Malcolm X :
"Please pay the same respect to this black man you know loves you, that you would pay to the President of the United States, who you think loves you."

p. 101 E.U. about Malcolm X :
"Minister Malcolm is married and has a child. He lives in a spacious and modestly furnished home in Long Island, New York, and drives a "ninety-eight" model, black Oldsmobile. For all intents and purposes, his style of life is middle class, although he told the writer :
"I own nothing, except a record player. I have no material possessions. The house where I am living is owned by the Temple. The clothes I wear are made (sewn) by the Muslim women. When I came into the Temple, I made a vow thet I was never going to own anything because frequently a very sincere leader becomes trapped by material possessions and consequently he becomes alienated from the aspirations of his followers.""

p. 177
Malcolm in an interview with EU :
"At 15, I was my own boss - the go-easy-way. I was a hustler. The only job I ever had was waiting tables. I had no education I went to school down there [pointing to the streets in Harlem]. I mean, on the streets. Everything I have learned has been since I became a follower of Mr. Muhammad. I was never interested in education. At 19 I was in prison."

p. 177
EM about Malcolm (Speech in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (typed), pp. 3-4) 
"Last summer, July the 5th and 6th visiting Number 7 Temple, New York, with my beloved Minister Malcolm who just sat down - you will find him everywhere you find me. Only at the table I ask him to excuse himself there because he is so much taller, he will eat up my meal. But anywhere you will find me you will find him. ... He is one of the most faithful ministers that I have. He will go everywhere - North, South, East or West, to China if I say go to China, he will go there. So I thank Allah for my Brother Minister Malcolm."

p. 82
EU about possible split
"Although there is no evidence of rivalry among Muhammad's ministers now, Minister Malcolm X appaers to wield a more prominent leadership role than any other minister. A split between him and Muhammad's successor [Minister Wallace Muhammad] could shatter the movement. If such a situation developed, particularly with Muhammad's  disappearance from the scene, Minister Malcolm X could probably carry a large number of followers with him. At present, however, there appears to be no trace of any minister or member  competing for power or leadership of the movement."

p. 83
E.M. :
"Islam dignifies the black man, and it gives him the desire to be clean, internally and externally, and to have for the first time a sense of dignity."


p. 191
"Below is a form letter which the prisoners receive after they have made their intention knwon to the Messenger : 

			"As-Salaam Alaikum :
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful; Master of the Day of Judgement.

Dear Brother :
Your letter of		has been received and I was very happy to hear from you. I am happy to know that you desire to join onto your own Holy Nation of Islam.
We have recorded your name in the "Book of Life," as a Believer. The following are the five fundamental Principles of Islam :
	(1)	A belief in the One God Whose proper Name is Allah.
	(2)	Believe in His Prophets.
	(3)	Believe in His Scriptures.
	(4)	Believe in the Resurrection.
	(5)	Believe in the Judgement Day.

Enclosed is one of our small Muslim Daily Prayer Books. Learn the prayers by heart and pray five times daily facing the East. When you are free, you will be able to attend the Temple of Islam and be qualified as a Believer.
May the peace and blessingsof Allah be upon you.
		
		As-Salaam-Alaikum : (peace be unto you)
		Your brother

		Elijah Muhammad
		Messenger of Allah"


p. 221f
Malcolm X

"If the American Negro, who has been lynched, seen his women raped, worked as a chattel slave, fought in wars for a democracy which he himself cannot enjoy, disenfranchised, segregated against, denied his rights as a first class citizen, finds it necessary during this twentieth century to have the army protect his children in order for them to attend schools which he pays taxes to maintain, does not hate those who inflict these ills on him can the Honorable Elijah Muhammad teach him hate ? I ask you this, audience."
(Quoted in Herald-Dispatch, Dec. 5, 1957, p.1)

"Speaking before a huge African Freedom Day Rally in Harlem, he proposed an immediate "Bandung Conference" of Harlem leaders :

"... If the people in Africa are getting their freedom, then 20 million blacks here in America, instead of shouting hallelujah over what is happening 9,000 miles from America, should study the methods used by our darker brothers in Africa and Asia to get their freedom.
It has been since the Bandung Conference that all dark people of earth have been striding toward freedom . . . but there are 20 million blacks here in America yet suffering the worst form of enslavement . . . mental bondage, mentally blinded by the white man, unable now to see that America is the citadel of white colonialism, the bulwark of white imperialism. . . the slavemaster of slavemasters.
... The frst step at Bandung was to agree that all dark people were suffering a common misery at the hands of a common enemy. Call him Belgian, call him Frenchman, call him Englishman, colonialist, imperialist, or European . . . but they have one thing in common : ALL ARE WHITE MEN !""
(Quoted in the Herald-Dispatch, April 23, 1959, pp1,5)

p. 253f
E.M.
Speech, Washington, DC, May 31, 1959, pp.3-4. References are made to the recent lynching in Mississippi of Mack C. Parker, who was awaiting trial for the alleged rape of a white woman, and to the Florida rape of a Negro college coed by four white men.

"We as a people numbering between 17 and 20 million people in America have worked and slaved for America for 400 years, only now to be denied justice even by the Federal Government.We have fought in every war that the country was involved in. The so-called Negro's blood has been shed on his own soil and foreign soil, only today to be denied justice in the government that he has fought and bled and died for. The government allowa lynchers to lynch you and me at will and he even goes so far as to  hide the identity of the lynchers. Turn the lyncher over to the brother who is in sympathy with him. Our daughters and wives are beaten and raped before our eyes by the white men and boys of Ameica,and the government will not put a stop to it; but will  allow lynchers to lynch you and me if we are charged with an attempt to rape one of them. All of this you suffer. The lynchers live right next door but are not brought to justice. All of this grief, you and I are burdened with. . . . We killed the white man in Germany; we killed other white men's brothers for him; we killed our own brothers for him. Yet we still are without any justice, we still are without anything. Our sons and daughters are lynched, kicked, beaten, hung up in the sun. Drowned in the river, in ponds and lakes, their bodies are found in the street, on the highway, in the bushes - killed by the very people for whom they have slaved away their lives for four hundred years. Our women are attacked, insulted, disgraced, right in our homes, in our eyes, in the street, in the white men's cars, in his house, in his businesses. They are disgraced in his factory, everywhere our women are trampled under foot by the white man. When we go to them for justice, they laugh at us and say, "that's good for you, nigger."