ABSTRACT
Blending the methods and arguments of Marcus Garvey with Islamic religion, the Black Muslims became one of the most enduring Black Nationalist groups in American history. The Hon. Wallace D. Fard founded the Nation of Islam in Detroit in 1929. The Black Muslims' mission and message changed substantially in 1950, when Elijah Poole, who renamed himself Elijah Muhammad, took control. Like Garvey, Muhammad preached that blacks should be proud of their African heritage but he also claimed that whites were devils and inherently evil. The Black Muslims rejected all names that implied a connection with slavery and white America and sought economic and physical separation from the white community. Malcolm X drew large crowds and a tremendous amount of media attention with his bitter denunciations of racism and American society. Whites hated him and integrationist members of the black middle class derided him as an extremist, but he clearly spoke to the needs and desires of dispossessed urban blacks.
