Date of Award

9-10-2017

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

History

First Advisor

Jim Ross

Abstract

Islamic culture is undoubtedly a facet of African American history. The most commonly thought of black Islamic group is the Nation of Islam (NOI). Scholars have begun to closely examine the NOI’s predecessor and dissent groups. Expanding scholarship beyond well-known NOI figures such as Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X, and Louis Farrakhan, recent study now assesses the influence of older figures and their organizations. In conjunction with examining these older models, recent study of the NOI also analyzes schismatic groups that formed out of this organization. This thesis reviews the NOI’s influential Islamic and/or black nationalist predecessors, the NOI’s early history as well as a historiography of two well-known schisms, and the early history the Nation of Gods and Earths (NGE), a lesser known dissent group, and its founder Father Allah. This study closes with an argument of the NGE’s continued influence in popular black culture, namely hip hop culture.

Share

COinS