TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS…………………………………………………………………iii
INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………………………000
Chapter
1.LAW, RELIGION AND THE RISE OF THE NOI...……………………….……000
2.FIGHTING IN THE COURTS: EARLY NOI LEGAL DEFENSE………...…….000
3.WOMEN, DOMESTIC WORK AND SOCIAL LEGITIMACY
IN THE EARLY NOI…………………………………………………..….…..…..000
4.THE INTERWAR PERIOD, 1942—1957..………………..……………………...000
5.A PRISON MOVEMENT FOR LEGAL LEGITIMACY…..……….…….……...000
6.THE NOI’S PRESS FOR SOCIAL LEGITIMACY…………………..…………..000
7.CLEAR VICTORIES AND MISSED OPPORTUNITIES……………….………..000
CONCLUSION……………………………………………………………….…………….000
NOTES………….…………………………………………………………………….….…000
BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………….….……000
Malachi D. Crawford is assistant director and adjunct professor of African American studies at the University of Houston.
Crawford carefully traces the legal stratagem of the Lost-Found
Nation of Islam (NOI) regarding civil liberties and religious
freedom to the early 1970s. Founded on July 4, 1930, NOI initially
little emphasized civil rights or civil liberties. That changed
following purported persecution at its Detroit temples, government
raids, and arrests for draft evasion during WW II. NOI women at
that point helped attain social legitimacy for NOI within the
African American community. Influenced by Howard University School
of Law Dean Charles Hamilton Houston’s concern for civil rights and
civil liberties, Howard Law alum Edward Jacko, along with the NOI’s
young minister, Malcolm X, drew attention to a police assault on
NOI member Johnson Hinton in Harlem in 1957. By the early 1960s,
incarcerated NOI members initiated lawsuits demanding the right to
practice their religion. At the same time, NOI had to contend with
mounting police raids. NOI employed its new newspaper, Muhammad
Speaks, to present the organization as a legitimate religious
entity. Muhammad Ali’s legal struggles regarding conscientious
objector status exemplified NOI’s determination to safeguard its
members’ civil liberties. This is a concise, intelligent
exploration of too-little-known facets of US cultural and legal
history. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries.
*CHOICE*
Black Muslims and the Law is a strong contribution to the NOI’s
history, upending the narrative that has stressed the group’s
insularity and inveterate hostility to the civil rights movement.
As Crawford effectively details, the NOI was not disengaged from
the struggle for civil rights and civil liberties. It was, in fact,
one of the most significant agents for their expansion—particularly
in prisons.
*Journal of American History*
Black Muslims and the Law is a well-researched and engaging work
that deserves a place in the critical scholarship in Africana
Studies, Religious Studies, and U.S. history and law. It definitely
disrupts the narrative that in the 1950s and 1960s, the Nation of
Islam was subversive and a national threat, and thoroughly explains
what it was and what it stood for. The book is highly recommended
for those interested in exploring the group's impact on American
legal practices and is most appropriate for use in Africana Studies
and law courses for its documentation of the ways an oppressed
group used the legal system to bring about constructive social
change.
*The Journal of African American History*
Black Muslims and The Law is a seminal work that explores the
Nation of Islam’s legal battles for civil rights. Dr. Crawford has
done an exceptional job documenting the Nation of Islam’s role in
moving America toward the promise of democracy for all those living
within her borders
*Abul Pitre, Fayetteville State University, North Carolina*
Fresh, focused, well researched, and engaging, Malachi Crawford’s
Black Muslims and The Law makes a significant contribution to
African American social, religious, and legal history by offering a
nuanced examination of the Nation of Islam’s initially reluctant
but ultimately effective use of the American legal system in the
organization’s extended quest for social legitimacy as a religious
institution. Crawford’s study not only deepens our understanding of
the NOI’s quest for social acceptability and justice, but also
broadens our appreciation for the interrelated quests among African
Americans for a full actualization of the rights and civil
liberties guaranteed US citizens regardless of race or creed.
*Karen Kossie-Chernyshev, Texas Southern University*
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