Elijah Muhammad-Original Man Know Thyself: A Pedagogy for Black Liberation introduces students to the works of Elijah Muhammad, a thought leader who championed the development of Black education and helped to raise the consciousness of Blacks in America between 1934 and 1975. The book examines Elijah Muhammad's works and accomplishments within the context of modern education. The text begins with a biographical sketch of Elijah Muhammad and an exploration of how his life can provide a blueprint for liberation through education. Following these contextual introductions, the volume features nine selections, one of which comes from the Muhammad Speaks newspaper and the rest of which are from Elijah Muhammad's classic books, Message to the Blackman in America, How to Eat to Live, and Our Savior Has Arrived. In addition to its focus on education, the book demonstrates how the teachings of Elijah Muhammad have contributed to Africana/Black Studies. Discussion questions throughout stimulate critical thinking and challenge readers to apply the excerpted works to contemporary educational practice. Drawing upon the past to inform the present, Elijah Muhammad-Original Man Know Thyself is an illuminating and valuable supplementary resource for courses and programs in education, Africana/Black Studies, and multicultural studies.

‘Man, Know Thyself’ is perhaps one of the world’s oldest and most important sayings. This adage was originally coined by Imhotep the world’s first multi-genius and perhaps the greatest creative mortal individual who ever lived. Imhotep lived over five and a half thousand years ago from our present age. It must be said immediately that Imhotep was an African. He is among our first Notable Ancestors. Considering Imhotep’s instruction, it means that as individuals, as a family, collectively as a people, a community, a society or a nation, we should know ourselves; that is, who we are. This includes knowledge of who spawned us, where we have been and where we currently are. Knowing this, as our Notable Ancestor and Grandmaster Teacher (Baba) Dr John Henrik Clarke has said, will tell us who we are and where we must get to. Who we are is dependent on who we were. Who we were should determine who we should be. To emphasise the point, Marcus Garvey, another of our most important Notable Ancestors, frequently reiterated this advice when he reminded us that our first obligation is to know ourselves. He told us that we should make our knowledge about us so complete so as to make it impossible for others to take advantage of us. He told us that in order to know ourselves we must know who our Ancestors were and what they achieved. We would then realize who we are and what we are capable of achieving. This is the meaning of the African adage and Sankofa symbol of ‘looking back in order to go forward’. The importance of knowing our ancestors has been summed up in an old Native American saying that ‘It is the spirit of our ancestors that should guide our path’. There is a sense however that Africans have forgotten our ancestors. Because of this, there is no ‘spirit’ to guide us and so Africans are lost and confused. The roots of African spirituality and culture have been made redundant. Yet as Dr Clarke points out, the unbilicord that tied Africans to our spiritual and cultural roots have only been stretched. It has never been broken. It is for Africans to come to this realization and to rediscover the spirit of our ancestors. This volume lists some of our Notable Ancestors in the hope that knowledge about them and their achievements will aid some of us in understanding where we have been, who we presently are and consequently who we must become. Ultimately, it is hoped that we may use this knowledge to reconnect with the spirit of our Ancestors and let them be our guide. This volume is based on the ‘truth’ about Africans and therefore correcting what is ‘told’ about us. This ‘corrective knowledge’ of us is important because as Imhotep said; ‘Know the truth and the truth shall set you free’. This means being free to interpret our own story and to define who we are. This is crucial because although ‘history’ is a witness to the truths, ‘history’ has been ‘stolen’ by others who have hidden the truths about us. ‘History’ has never been true or kind to Africans and therefore it cannot tell us about us. Yet as Peter Tosh intimated, we cannot come to a consciousness of ourselves, of who we are, if we do not know the truths about us. ‘History’ has been described as the ‘Queen’ of the academic subjects. So important is History that it is said that ‘whoever controls history, controls the future’. In one sense education in general and history in particular is about teaching us who we are. History teaches who we are so as to help us to know where we belong in our community (or society). Africans cannot know where we belong in society however, because our story has been told by ‘others’ (those who ‘own history’). Africans are therefore unaware of who we are because what is ‘known’ about us is not the truth about us. The story of Africans, the oldest people on earth, like the history of the world, is taught by ‘others’. Yet these others came into the world thousands of years after Africans had already established great civ

Elijah Muhammad--Original Man Know Thyself: A Pedagogy for Black Liberation introduces students to the works of Elijah Muhammad, a thought leader who championed the development of Black education and helped to raise the consciousness of Blacks in America between 1934 and 1975. The book examines Elijah Muhammad's works and accomplishments within the context of modern education. The text begins with a biographical sketch of Elijah Muhammad and an exploration of how his life can provide a blueprint for liberation through education. Following these contextual introductions, the volume features nine selections, one of which comes from the Muhammad Speaks newspaper and the rest of which are from Elijah Muhammad's classic books, Message to the Blackman in America, How to Eat to Live, and Our Savior Has Arrived. In addition to its focus on education, the book demonstrates how the teachings of Elijah Muhammad have contributed to Africana/Black Studies. Discussion questions throughout stimulate critical thinking and challenge readers to apply the excerpted works to contemporary educational practice.

According to countless mainstream news organs, Elijah Muhammad, by far, was the most powerful black man in America. Known more for the students he produced, like Malcolm X, Louis Farrakhan and Muhammad Ali, this controversial man exposed the black man as well as the world to a teaching, till now, was only used behind closed doors of high degree Masons and Shriners. An easy and smart read. The book approaches the question of what and who is God. It compares the concept held by religions to nature and mathematics. It also explores the origin of the original man, mankind, devil, heaven and hell. Its title, Message To The Blackman, is directed to the American Blacks specifically, but addresses blacks universally as well.

How wonderful it is to taught by a free teacher, a spiritual teacher, a member of our family who truly loves the family, an architect of tranforming processes, a defender of African people, a beacon, a Son of Africa, a divine spirit manisfesting our creative genius. Thousands of thousands of people know Dr. Na'im Akbar as a special treasure. This book is another important gift from him to us. It is our responsibility to study these thoughts, carfully. To follow these teachings is to guarantee our liberation and to guide us toward our destiny. From forward by Asa G. Hilliard, III, Calloway Professor of Education at Georgia State University, Atlanta.

Muzorewa is chair of the Department of Philosophy and Religion at Lincoln University of Pennsylvania. He is also the author of "The Origins and Development of African Theology" and "The Great Being: Yahweh, Chuku, Allah, God, Brahman."

A True History of Jesus, his birth, death and what it means, which also goes into symbolic interpretation of his second coming and how it relates to black people in America. This title was originally written by Elijah Muhammad in the Nation of Islam's official newspaper, Muhammad Speaks as a 22 part series. This book is the complete series. The history of Jesus, Joseph (his real father) and mother, Mary, is given an exceptional analysis in the excellently written book.

When Eldridge Cleaver wrote in 1965 that black men "shall have our manhood or the earth will be leveled by our attempt to gain it," he voiced a central strain of Black Power movement rhetoric. In print, as well as on stage and screen, Black Power advocates equated masculinity with their political radicalism and potency. While many observers have criticized the misogyny in this preoccupation, few have noted the challenges to it within the period in the works of authors such as James Baldwin, John Edgar Wideman, Clarence Major, and John Oliver Killens. These and other writers tested the link between masculinity and radical politics. By recovering their voices, Rolland Murray demonstrates that the movement's gender ideals were questioned more fully than scholars have acknowledged. He also examines how the Black Power era's contentious gender politics continue to play a role in contemporary African American culture and scholarship. Murray analyzes the ways in which notions of masculinity were interwoven with essential movement philosophies regarding revolutionary violence, charismatic leadership, radical rhetoric, and black sexuality. Striving to forge a more nuanced account of how masculinist discourse contributed to the movement's overall agenda, he frames masculinity both as a linchpin of the seductive politics of Black Power and as a focal point of dissent by black male authors.

Liberation Pedagogy: Elijah Muhammad and the Art of Soul Crafting places the work of Elijah Muhammad in an educational context. Drawing from concepts in critical educational theory and Black liberation theology, it introduces to readers the contributions that Elijah Muhammad made to the education of oppressed people. It includes a comparative analysis of Paulo Freire’s work and its similarities to Elijah Muhammad’s teachings.A highlight of this book is that it explores the lives of Elijah Muhammad’s students—Minister Malcolm X, Imam Warith D. Mohammed, Minister Muhammad Ali, and Minister Louis Farrakhan—to demonstrate how his teachings touched the souls of these unlettered personalities. This book offers a liberation pedagogy that educators can use to inspire students to become life-long learners, enabling them to see the acquisition of knowledge as the vehicle to discover their unique gifts and talents.

Life and Times of Elijah Muhammad ...