The Ministry of Louis Farrakhan in the Nation of Islam

In the first scholarly biography of Minister Farrakhan, leader of the controversial religious movement, the Nation of Islam (NOI), Dawn-Marie Gibson challenges popular portrayals of Farrakhan in American media.

Placing Farrakhan’s life and leadership in historical context, she traces his evolution from a fiery Black Nationalist in 1960s Harlem to a respected leader in sections of the USA and abroad, and uncovers Farrakhan’s work in rebuilding the NOI’s reputation following Malcolm X’s assassination.

Archival material includes FBI’s files on the NOI and its leaders, Farrakhan’s writings in the Muhammad Speaks and The Final Call newspapers, and lectures and interviews from the late 1970s to the present day. Excerpts from first-hand interviews from NOI officials, pastors, imams, and community groups provide important insights into Farrakhan’s religious life.

Dawn-Marie Gibson is Senior Lecturer in Twentieth-Century US History at Royal Holloway, University of London, UK. She is co-editor of New Perspectives on the Nation of Islam (2017), author of The Nation of Islam, Louis Farrakhan and the Men Who Follow Him (2016), co-author of Women of the Nation: Between Black Protest and Sunni Islam (2014), and author of A History of the Nation of Islam: Race, Islam, and the Quest for Freedom (2012).