Muhammad African American Art Nation Of Islam Framed 22X26 Exceediingly Rare

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Seller: memorabilia111 ✉️ (808) 100%, Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan, US, Ships to: US, Item: 176299957945 MUHAMMAD AFRICAN AMERICAN ART NATION OF ISLAM FRAMED 22X26 EXCEEDIINGLY RARE.
An original C1976 BY  YUSSUF COPPER FRAMED PICTURE MEASURING 22X26 INCHES OF THE HON. W.E. MUHAMMAD CHIEF MINISTER OF THE NATION OF ISLAM. THIS HUNG IN W.D. MUHAMMAD'S OFFICE AND ALSO IS MADE OF COPPER. What makes this rare is that he was not chief minister for very long after his fathers death. 
Warith Deen Mohammed (born Wallace D. Muhammad; October 30, 1933 – September 9, 2008), also known as W. Deen Mohammed, Imam W. Deen Muhammad and Imam Warith Deen, was a progressive African-American Muslim leader, theologian, philosopher, Muslim revivalist, and Islamic thinker (1975–2008) who disbanded the original Nation of Islam (NOI) in 1976 and transformed it into a semi orthodox mainstream Islamic movement, the World Community of Al-Islam in the West which later became the American Society of Muslims. He was a son of Elijah Muhammad, the leader of the Nation of Islam from 1933 to 1975.

















Warith Deen Mohammed Photo of Warith Deen Mohammed "We should realize that the first identity is not an African or a European or a Saudi. The first identity is a human being. And as long as we build our differencesm our diversities (pardon me) upon that foundation that God gave us, the human foundation, we're in good shape. And we should just make all the progress we can, separately and all together." --Warith D. Mohammed, as told to This Far by Faith producer Valerie Linson Warith Deen Mohammed was born Wallace D. Muhammad. He was the seventh child of Elijah and Clara Muhammad. Elijah Muhammad, referred to as the Honorable Elijah Muhammad by his followers, led the Nation of Islam, an organization considered by some to be a kind of black Ku Klux Klan. But for the many African-Americans who became members — and for thousands of sympathizers — the Nation of Islam provided an answer to racial oppression. Self-reliance and "knowledge of self" were the driving philosophies of the Nation. Elijah Muhammad preached that the black man needed to stop looking to the white man for acceptance and learn to accept himself. Muhammad encouraged blacks to start their own businesses, and to stay in their own communities. In effect, he advocated a black "nation within a nation." The Nation of Islam taught that black people were the "original people" with a divinity bestowed upon them from God. In this theology, white people were considered devils --- and Elijah Muhammad was God's Messenger on earth. Wallace Muhammad grew up listening to his father’s teachings, and he believed them as a child. But as he grew older, he was increasingly aware of the discrepancies between the Islam his father taught, and the Islam taught in the Qu’ran and practiced by millions of Muslims worldwide. Breaking with his father and the Nation would prove emotionally difficult and physically dangerous, but Wallace’s faith eventually led him to guide the Nation away from a separatist, race-based theology and towards the world community of Islam. "The difference between religion and spirituality is that spirituality is human and divine. It is human in that God created us to be spiritually pure, innocent unblemished and that's human. But God also created us with an appetite for divine will." --Warith D. Mohammed, as told to This Far by Faith producer Valerie Linson KEY MOMENTS OF FAITH A CHILD'S AWAKENING When he was 13 years old Wallace was left alone while his family attended a meeting. Scared, he began to pray. But he couldn't summon an image of a God to call on for comfort. Wallace had been taught to tear up pictures of white men, even when he saw them in the paper, but pictures of the Nation of Islam's founder and "Savior" W.D. Fard showed a fair-skinned man. Wallace couldn't resolve the contradiction. Finally, he began his prayer: "Oh Allah, if I'm not seeing you correctly, please help me to see you correctly." This was the beginning of a journey on which Wallace would repeatedly question the teachings handed down by his father. As he told producer Valerie Linson, “I believe much of the Nation of Islam’s theology was intentionally made ridiculous so that we would one day be too smart for it, and would look for something better, and would search for our own way to freedom. That’s what I think my father wanted.” In late 1958, Elijah Muhammad appointed his 25-year old son as minister of Temple #11 in Philadelphia. There, Wallace began to acquaint the Philadelphia membership to orthodox Islamic practices. He taught the basics of Islamic prayer and introduced them to readings in the Qur'an - which was never read in Nation of Islam temples. But he was careful not to raise doubts about the leadership or divinity of his father. FREED BY PRISON In 1960, Wallace Muhammad, was convicted of draft evasion. Even though he could have performed community service as a conscientious objector, he chose to serve three years in Sandstone Federal Correctional Institution. He made that decision because his father insisted. At his sentencing hearing, he recalls, the judge said, “the young man is dominated by his father.” Every night for three years, those words rang in his ears. He resolved to study, become stronger, to become a better leader for the Nation of Islam. But the more he prayed, studied and read the Qu’ran, the more he came to believe that Muhammed, who lived in Arabia and received the Qu’ran 14 centuries ago, was the messenger of Allah and the last prophet. In accepting this, he had to reject what he had been taught. He made up his mind never again to preach that his father was the messenger of Allah and that W.D. Fard was God incarnate. At 32, Wallace Muhammad was released from prison. It was February 1963, months before the March on Washington. By then, the FBI had the Nation of Islam under constant surveillance. Elijah Muhammad was attacked by the media for leading a hate group, and by Malcolm X, who resigned amidst allegations that Elijah Muhammad had fathered several children out of wedlock. Confused, but still trying to protect his father, Wallace poured through the Bible and the Qu’ran to find justification for his father's extramarital relationships. In a letter to the Nation of Islam’s top ministers, Wallace Muhammad, he urged them to tell the truth. At the same time, he urged them to stop referring to Elijah Muhammad as the messenger of God. EXCOMMUNICATED AND DISOWNED Wallace was excommunicated from the Nation of Islam five different times for refusing to accept the divinity of Elijah Muhammad. He was forbidden to contact family members, including his mother. Meanwhile, his wife and child were harassed by Nation members who considered them traitors. Wallace and his family were subjected to threatening phone calls at all hours. Once, Wallace was nearly run over by a car. During these periods, Muhammad worked as a general laborer: welding and, on one occasion, mixing soup at the Campbell Soup factory. REINSTATEMENT AND LEADERSHIP In 1974, Wallace was permanently reinstated into the Nation of Islam and allowed to teach in the temples. Elijah Muhammad's health had been failing. When his father died in 1975, Wallace assumed control of the Nation of Islam. Within a year, he changed the name of the organization to the World Community of al-Islam in the West and later changed his own name to Warith Deen Mohammed. He did away with the Fruit of Islam, the Nation’s paramilitary organization, and abolished the Nation’s dress codes for men and women. Ministers became Imams and temples were renamed mosques. Followers were taught to pray as orthodox Muslims, to study the Qu'ran, and follow the five pillars of Islam. Warith Mohammed also taught that Elijah Muhammed was not a prophet, and that whites were not “blue-eyed devils.” He encouraged members to vote and enlist in military service. Although several thousand followed Louis Farrakhan when he split from Warith to re-establish the Nation of Islam, most members remained with Warith as he rapidly moved his community from the race-based, separatist beliefs of the Nation of Islam toward the orthodox practice of Sunni Islam. His thoughtful demeanor and profound spiritual conviction inspired a community of people steeped in the idea of self-reliance and spirituality. The divisive Louis Farrakhan may be the best-known voice of America's black Muslims, but in recent decades, the most influential has undoubtedly belonged to Imam W. Deen Mohammed, who preached a more moderate and racially tolerant brand of the faith, and brought hundreds of thousands of his followers back into the global Islamic mainstream. Imam Mohammed was the seventh son of Elijah Muhammad, who from 1935 until his death in 1975 led the Nation of Islam, the organisation set up by Wallace Fard Muhammad in 1930 to further the spiritual, social and economic identity of black Americans, and whose first name the baby was given. From his early years, the child born Wallace Deen Mohammed was said to have been Elijah's favourite. He attended the Nation's school on the South Side of Chicago and learnt Arabic in order to read the Qu'ran in the original Arabic. He was widely considered to be his father's most likely successor. However, at first gradually, and then dramatically, the two parted ways. For the studious and soft-spoken Wallace, the turning point came in 1961 when he refused to be drafted into the army, saying he would not fight for a country that practised racism and segregation against its black citizens. Having turned down a plea bargain, he served a 14-month jail sentence at a federal prison in Minnesota. It was there that his views hardened against Elijah Muhammad's message of self-reliance and black supremacy. In his eyes, his father's teachings contradicted true Islam, and however noble its original aspirations, the Nation had become corrupt, even blasphemous. Thereafter, relations between father and son grew ever stormier. Expelled, reinstated, expelled again from the Nation, and often disowned by his family, Wallace Mohammed worked variously as a welder, baker, carpet-cleaner and painter. "If he hadn't hurt me, I don't know that I would have come to Allah like I did," the future Imam Mohammed said years later. But at the time the process was deeply painful. He grew close to Malcolm X, another disciple of the Nation increasingly doubtful of the course it had taken, until Malcolm was assassinated in 1965. Only in 1974 did he finally rejoin the organisation for good. Yet the succession was never really in doubt. When Elijah died in 1975, his son was elected Supreme Minister by acclamation. The changes came quickly. The doctrine of black supremacy, held to be at odds with true Islam, was discarded, as was the insistence on the divinity of Wallace Fard, the Nation's founder. "He was not God, I knew he was not God," the new leader told an interviewer years later, "and Elijah Muhammad was not a prophet". He promoted a new emphasis on the traditional tenets of Islam, including Arabic classes, prayer five times a day, the observation of Ramadan and the obligatory pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in a believer's life. In 1976, Elijah's son announced that he would be known by the modest title of Imam, instead of Supreme Minister. That year he also changed the Nation's name, to World Community of al-Islam in the West. Later it would become today's American Society of Muslims. The new orthodoxy was predictably too much for the radical faction led by Farrakhan, who broke away and in 1977 reformed the old Nation of Islam, with the defiantly separatist, often anti-white and anti-Semitic views for which Farrakhan is best known. Imam Mohammed, however, moved into the Islam mainstream, and so did his followers, their number estimated at anywhere from a few hundred thousand to 2m, the "silent majority" of the old Nation that was not wedded to Farrakhan. He strove to meld African-American Muslims with immigrant Muslim communities in the US, and to bring them firmly into the global faith of Islam. In doing so, Imam Mohammed became a notable figure on the world religious stage, meeting Pope John Paul II several times and taking part in high-level inter-faith meetings with Catholics and Jews. At home, he became the first Muslim to give the traditional invocation in the US senate, and he led prayers at the inauguration ceremonies of President Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996. Four years later came the most delicate reconciliation of all, as Imam Mohammed and Louis Farrakhan made a public peace of their own. Imam W. Deen Mohammed, the rebellious son of the late Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad who broke from black nationalism and guided his followers toward mainstream Islam, died Tuesday, according to family members. He was 74. “Brother Imam,” as he was known, was pronounced dead at his home in Markham, Ill., according to a spokesman for the Cook County Medical Examiner. An autopsy was planned. As Muslims marked the holy month of Ramadan, Mohammed was scheduled to speak Tuesday in Chicago, but many grew concerned when he did not appear. His last speaking engagement was his regular monthly address delivered Sunday in Homewood, Ill., and aired to a live radio audience. “He was a pioneer in the Muslim American community and was one of the first leaders to get Muslims to think about their faith in context of the larger society,” said Rami Nashashibi, executive director of Inner-City Muslim Action Network in Chicago. “He was also a pioneer in getting Muslims to embrace their religious identity at a time when that wasn’t very popular.” Mohammed succeeded his father in 1975 as leader of the Nation of Islam, a religious movement that melds black nationalism with the Islamic faith. He immediately tried to move its followers toward traditional Islam, eventually leading to a split between those who agreed with Mohammed’s approach and those who joined a revived Nation of Islam under Minister Louis Farrakhan. “He will be remembered as a person who brought the Nation of Islam carefully and consistently into mainline Islam,” said Yvonne Haddad, a professor of the history of Islam and Christian-Muslim relations at Georgetown University. “Eventually, he’d start talking about American Muslims -- how we can be Muslim and American at the same time.” In the later years of his life, Mohammed’s profile diminished somewhat. He focused more energy into his nonprofit ministry, the Mosque Cares. He also worked on building interfaith relations, meeting with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican in 1996. Some saw his lessened visibility as the final steps in his efforts to restructure his organization into a loose group of organizations without a central charismatic figure. Wallace D. Mohammed was born Oct. 30, 1933, in Detroit, the seventh of eight children of Elijah and Clara Muhammad. (He became known later as Imam Warithuddeen Mohammed.) His father was a disciple of W.D. Fard, a door-to-door salesman who founded a small sect in that city known alternately as the Lost-Found Nation of Islam and the Allah Temple of Islam. Upon Fard’s mysterious disappearance in 1934, Elijah Muhammad proclaimed Fard to be God, and he announced himself as his Messenger, a divinely inspired prophet. W. Deen Mohammed was for many years an obedient son. He was the minister of the Nation of Islam’s mosques in Chicago and Philadelphia in the 1950s. On his 28th birthday in 1961, Mohammed was sent to federal prison in Minnesota for refusing, on the basis of Nation of Islam teachings, induction into the U.S. military. While serving his prison sentence, Mohammed reevaluated his father’s preaching. Expelled from the Nation of Islam for criticizing his father’s sometimes harsh doctrine, Mohammed supported his own family by driving a cab, doing welding, plucking chickens and working as a house painter and junkman. Mohammed publicly begged his father’s forgiveness. He was readmitted to the movement, only to be expelled several times again. He was finally restored to grace in 1974, only six months before his father’s death. Farrakhan was expected to succeed Elijah Muhammad. But a closed-door family council chose Mohammed to be the movement’s chief imam. He began preaching a more universal religious message. He also cut back on the group’s commercial empire, saying business ventures distracted the movement from its religious mission. Mohammed’s changes produced a backlash within the group, which he renamed the World Community of Al-Islam in the West. Subsequently, the name was changed several times again. Of all his innovations, the most costly in terms of lost followers was his rejection of black supremacy. In 1978, Farrakhan broke with Mohammed and formed his own counter-movement. He revived the name Nation of Islam, saying he intended to follow the teaching of Elijah Muhammad. Mohammed decentralized power within the movement, making each mosque autonomous. But he reacted impatiently when the other imams didn’t more closely follow his path toward mainstream Islam. “I have tried over the last 10 to 12 years to encourage them to get more religious education, but I have made no progress,” Mohammed said upon resigning as head of the American Society of Muslims five years ago. But most observers think the greater number of African American Muslims remained loyal to W. Deen Mohammed than to Farrakhan. Despite their differences, Mohammed and Farrakhan reconciled in a series of joint appearances starting in 1999 and pledged to work together. Mohammed also achieved several historic milestones for Muslim Americans. In 1992, he became the first Muslim to deliver an invocation to the U.S. Senate. In 1993 and 1997, he recited from the Koran at President Clinton’s two inaugural interfaith Prayer Services. Mohammed’s survivors include his wife, Shirley, nine children and several grandchildren.












Warith Deen Mohammed (born Wallace D. Muhammad; October 30, 1933 – September 9, 2008), also known as W. Deen Mohammed, Imam W. Deen Muhammad and Imam Warith Deen, was a progressive African-American Muslim leader, theologian, philosopher, Muslim revivalist, and Islamic thinker (1975–2008) who disbanded the original Nation of Islam (NOI) in 1976 and transformed it into a semi orthodox mainstream Islamic movement, the World Community of Al-Islam in the West which later became the American Society of Muslims.[1][2][3] He was a son of Elijah Muhammad, the leader of the Nation of Islam from 1933 to 1975.[4][5] He became the national leader (Supreme Minister) of the Nation of Islam in 1975 after his father's death.[6] He rejected the previous deification of Wallace Fard Muhammad, accepted whites as fellow-worshippers, forged closer ties with mainstream Muslim communities, and introduced the Five Pillars of Islam into his group's theology.[3][7] Splinter groups resisting these changes formed after Elijah Muhammad's death, particularly under Louis Farrakhan, who in 1981 would revive the name Nation of Islam (from Final Call) for his organization. Farrakhan's NOI and the previous Final Call claim direct continuity from the pre-1976 NOI.[3][8] Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early life and education 2 Religious leadership and ministry 2.1 Reforming the Nation of Islam 2.2 Building ties within the Muslim community 2.3 Interfaith cooperation 3 Political and social activities 4 Islamic beliefs and ideology 4.1 Fiqh 4.2 Imagery and color symbolism 5 Personal life 6 Death 7 Honors 8 Publications 8.1 Books authored 8.2 Pamphlets 8.3 Video and audio presentations 9 References 10 External links Biography Part of a series on: Nation of Islam Mosque Maryam.jpg Mosque Maryam in Chicago Influencers[show] Leaders[show] Beliefs and theology[show] History[show] Publications[show] Subsidiaries[show] Offshoots and sects[show] Related organizations[show] Allah-green.svg Islam portal A coloured voting box.svg Politics portal vte Early life and education Mohammed was born Wallace Delaney Muhammad on Yemans Street in Hamtramck, Michigan in 1933.[9][10] In 1980 he changed his name to Warithuddin Muhammad, Warith Deen Muhammad, which translates to 'Inheritor of the Religion of Muhammad'.[3][11] His parents were Clara and Elijah Muhammad, both highly active in the Nation of Islam (NOI), the organization that preached a form of Black nationalism and its own version of Islam.[12] From 1934 until his death in 1975, Elijah Muhammad led the Nation under the title, "the Messenger of Allah."[13] Named to honor Wallace Fard Muhammad (Fard), the founder of the Nation of Islam, Mohammed grew up in Chicago, one of seven siblings.[14] His early education came from the Muhammad University of Islam school system now known as the Clara Muhammad Schools, or Muhammad Schools.[15] He studied Arabic as a youth under Professor Jamal Diab, a Palestinian who had been hired by his father to teach at the M.U.I. in Chicago.[16] Mohammed became a minister under his father in late 1958 and served in Philadelphia during the late 1950s and early 1960s.[5][17][18] While serving as Philadelphia minister, W.D. Mohammed commenced extensive study of Qadiani (Ahmadiyyah) doctrines under Philadelphia based Qadiani missionary Muhammad Abdullah.[19][20] On Oct. 29,1961, Mohammed was arrested for failure to report to Elgin State Hospital. The following day, on his 28th birthday, Mohammed was transferred to Federal Correctional Institution, Sandstone to begin a term for having refused induction into the United States military.[21] He could have performed community service, but his father pressed him to accept the jail time.[5] He spent most of that time studying the Quran, the main Islamic holy book.[22] He became convinced that the Nation of Islam had to change. In 1963 he was released from prison and resumed studies under Muhammad Abdullah.[23][24][25] Close also to Malcolm X, who the NOI had expelled, he found that by this time his viewpoints deviated significantly from those of his father, whom he no longer believed to be a prophet.[5][26] Because of this conclusion, he was excommunicated different five times, yet by 1974, he was returned permanently to the NOI.[5] Religious leadership and ministry Reforming the Nation of Islam Upon the death of his father on February 25, 1975, Mohammed was unanimously chosen as the leader of the Nation of Islam and introduced to the NOI membership as such at the annual Saviours' Day convention on February 26, 1975.[2][27][28] Among the first changes Mohammed instituted, he dropped the title Supreme Minister and took the titles Mujaddid, Chief Imam, or simply Imam, in 1976.[29][30][31] The same year, he unveiled a new flag for the NOI community.[32][33][34] These were just two of the many reforms Mohammed introduced.[3] Among others, he eliminated the NOI dress code, disbanded the military branch of the NOI, clarified the concept of the devil, and, through his Muhammad Speaks newspaper and public speeches, introduced and explained Islam's Five Pillars.[5][28][35] He stated that Fard was not divine and that his father was not a prophet.[26] All of the over 400 temples were converted into traditional Islamic mosques. He also renamed the community several times before finally settling on the American Society of Muslims to reflect the new thinking.[25][36] Mohammed was frank about his intentions to evolve the movement. On November 19, 1978 he spoke on the "Evolution of the Nation of Islam" at the American Academy of Religion in New Orleans.[37] Mohammed's changes reached deep into the philosophy of the movement his father had led for so long. He rejected literal interpretations of his father's theology and Black-separatist views and on the basis of his intensive independent study, history, and theology, he accepted whites as fellow worshipers.[38][39] However, he also encouraged African Americans (Bilalians) to separate themselves from their pasts, in 1976 calling upon them to change their surnames which were often given to their ancestors by slave masters.[11][40] He forged closer ties with mainstream Muslim communities, including Latinos.[41] He also decentralized power. On September 10, 1978 in an address in Atlanta he resigned as Chief Imam and appointed a six-member council to lead the Community.[42][43] Mohammed felt quite keenly his role in reform. In an interview published in the Muhammad Speaks newspaper and conducted by his brother Jabir Herbert Muhammad, Mohammed described his role as successor to their father as that of a Mujeddid,[44] one who would watch over the new Islam or community.[45][46] In 1979 he used the title Mujeddid (Mujaddid) on his byline in his weekly articles for the Bilalian News (the new title of Muhammad Speaks).[47][48] Warith Deen Mohammed gained widespread support among the international Muslim community, but his changes to the Nation of Islam were not universally accepted.[49] A number of dissident groups resisted, most notably those who followed Louis Farrakhan in breaking ranks with Mohammed. This group revived the name 'Nation of Islam' in 1977.[26][50] In 1995 Mohammed released a statement expressing concern about Farrakhan's motivations and the racial divisiveness of his ministry.[45][49] The pair embraced publicly and declared reconciliation at the annual Saviours' Day convention on February 25, 2000, but in August 10, 2007, Mohammed repeated his frustration with the separatist stance of the current Nation of Islam, stating that its leaders had, "for the last 10 years or more,...just been selling wolf tickets to the white race and having fun while they collect money and have fancy lifestyles."[51] He predicted a quiet evolution in the NOI towards unity with the mainstream American Muslim community. Building ties within the Muslim community Mohammed was intent on strengthening bonds between his movement and the wider American Muslim faith community as well as with followers of Islam abroad. It was his goal to align American Muslims with Sunni Islam.[14] In 1976, he took a delegation to Guyana on an official state visit to meet with Prime Minister L. Forbes Burnham, and the then President of Guyana Arthur Chung, during which he forged ties with the Qadiani communities in the region.[52][53] In 1985, he met in Geneva, Switzerland with Dr. Muhammad Ahmad Al-Sharif, Secretary General of the World Islamic Call Society of Libya and Dr. Abdul Hakim Tabibi, an Afghan mujahid, to discuss areas of future cooperation with the World Islamic Call Society and the Muslim Community of America.[54] He hosted Grand Mufti Abdullah Mukhtar, the leader of an estimated 60 million Muslims at Masjid Bilal, during his first visit to the U.S. in 1994.[55] In 1999, he was elected to the Islamic Society of North America's shura board.[56] That same year, during Ramadan, he pledged to work with the then Grand Mufti of Syria, Shaikh Ahmed Kuftaro an-Naqshbandi for the advancement of Al-Islam during a meeting with Kuftaro and Shaikh Nazim al-Haqqanian-Naqshbandi.[57][58] He was the special invited guest and keynote speaker at the "Inaugural Conference on the Growth and Development of Islam in America", held at Harvard University on March 3–4, 2000.[59] Interfaith cooperation Just as Mohammed sought to be racially inclusive, he also focused on cooperation between multiple faiths. On May 23, 1976, he conducted a massive interfaith Spiritual Life Jubilee in Los Angeles, California and spoke on the subject "A New Heaven and a New Earth".[60] In 1977 he participated in a Muslim-Christian dialogue in Fort Worth, Texas with Dr. Jack Evans, then President of Southwestern Christian College in Terrell, Texas.[61] In February 1978, he gave a historic address before more than 1,000 Jews and Muslims at the Washington Hebrew Congregation in Washington, D.C., then under the leadership of Rabbi Joshua O. Haberman.[62] This was a focus that would persist throughout his career. In 1993 he spoke at the Interfaith Roundtable National Conference of Christians, Jews and Muslims in Detroit, Michigan.[54] In March 1995 he gave the keynote address at the Muslim-Jewish Convocation in Glencoe, Illinois.[63] From October 1–6, 1996 he met with Pope John Paul II and Cardinal Francis Arinze at the Holy See in Rome.[64] On August 17, 1997 he was presented the Luminosa Award for Unity from the Focolare Movement.[65] On September 9, 1997 he addressed the Baltimore Jewish Council speaking on themes of worldwide justice and fairness.[66] On May 18–20, 1998, he attended the Conference on Religion and Peace sponsored by the Center for Christian, Jewish Understanding of Sacred Heart University in Auschwitz, Poland.[63] In June 1998 he addressed the Muslim Friends of the Focolare conference in Rome, Italy,[67] in October of the following year, along with a 92-member delegation, he spoke before a gathering of 100,000 people in the Vatican.[68][69] Pope John Paul II and the Dalai Lama were both in attendance.[70] On October 29, 2001, Mohammed participated in an "Evening of Religious Solidarity" joined by Minister Louis Farrakhan, Pastor Robert H. Schuller, and members of the Parliament of the World's Religions at the Islamic Foundation in Villa Park, Illinois.[71] Political and social activities Throughout his ministry, Mohammed remained politically active, domestically and internationally. Early meetings with prominent political figures included Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1975, Sharjah ruler Sheik Sultan bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi in 1976, and U.S. President Jimmy Carter in 1977.[36][72][73] But Mohammed would attend many events around the world focused on the advancement of Islam, racial unity and world peace. He was the only American invited and the only American to attend the 10th Annual Islamic Conference of Ministers in May, 1979, in Fes, Morocco.[74][75] In April, 1988, he participated as the representative of Muslim Americans in the "Political and Religious Leaders Campaign for Planetary Survivor" in Oxford Town Hall. Later that year he was among 100 leaders in religion, government, business, law and philanthropy who gathered in Williamsburg, Virginia during the Williamsburg Charter Foundations "First Liberty Summit".[76] In 1995, he participated in the Forbes Forum on Management in Naples, Florida.[77] The following year, he participated in the "National Discussion on Race & Reconciliation" sponsored by the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.[78] In late 1997, he attended the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Teheran, Iran,[79] and he participated in The Religious Community and Moral Challenge of Poverty Round Table Discussion convened by former U. S. Senator Paul Simon in 1998 in Carbondale, Illinois.[80] During the month of November 1999 he attended consecutive World Peace Conferences. The first conference, Jubilenium Interfaith Conference for World Peace, was an invitation-only event held in Tiberias, Israel. The second was the 7th World Assembly of the World Conference on Religion and Peace, held in Amman, Jordan.[81] He was a prominent political speaker. Mohammed gave the first invocation in the United States Senate ever by a Muslim in 1992[82] That same year, he became the first Muslim to deliver an address on the floor of the Georgia State Legislature.[82] In 1993, he gave an Islamic prayer during the first Inaugural Interfaith Prayer Service of President Bill Clinton, and again in 1997 at the second Interfaith Prayer Service.[83] In 1996 he was invited to Egypt by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to address the Supreme Council of Affairs in Cairo on the theme "Islam and the Future of Dialogue between Civilizations".[67] He sat on a number of councils and committees, domestically and abroad. In 1986, he was selected to serve on the World Supreme Council of Masajid (mosques) as one of only three representatives of the United States.[75] Also in 1995 he was selected as a President of the World Conference of Religions for Peace (WCRP) and addressed its governing board in Copenhagen, Denmark.[70][84] In January 1997, he was appointed to then President Bill Clinton's Religious Advisory Council.[67] In 2000, he was named to the Executive Committee of the Religious Alliance Against Pornography (RAAP).[85] He made his opinions on political matters known. On July 4, 1976 he started the New World Patriotism Day celebrations which were conducted on Independence Day in major cities across America.[34][36][86] In 1984, Mohammed went against the mainstream African American political establishment and opposed Reverend Jesse Jackson's run for the Democratic nomination for president.[87] In 1985, to protest the Chicago probate court handling of an American Muslim Mission case, he organized a "Walk for Justice" that drew 500,000 participants.[88] On December 23, 1989 he spoke at the Annual Conference of the Islamic Committee for Palestine on the plight of the Palestinians.[89] In 1990, Mohammed supported and endorsed Neil Hartigan for Governor of Illinois.[90] He gave his support to the peacemaking and humanitarian efforts of Bishop Samuel Ruiz.[84] On September 10, 1990 he participated in the international conference on the "Current Situation in the Gulf", where he made his opposition to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait a matter of public record.[91] On behalf of the Muslim American Community, he donated $85,000 to Nelson Mandela to aid his efforts to end apartheid in South Africa during a personal meeting in Oakland, California on June 30, 1990.[77] On September 11, 2001, he denounced the terrorist attacks as un-Islamic.[63] Islamic beliefs and ideology Fiqh While emphasizing unity within the Muslim community, Warith Deen Mohammed called upon the American Muslim community to establish a new school of fiqh, a code of conduct for the observance of rituals, morals and social legislation in Islam.[92] He told ISLAMICA magazine in 2008 that he felt that the madhhab—the schools of thought within fiqh—were geographically influenced and should be regionally developed, suggesting that "I think we are gradually getting a sense of madhabs in America, especially those like me. We are getting a sense of madhabs. And with the coming generation I think that we will be getting a much stronger sense of it. It is coming more and more."[93] Imagery and color symbolism Mohammed was sensitive to the potential impact caused by the use of images and symbols in religion. In a 1975 article, he explored this topic and in 1976 published the first article on the subject in the Bilalian News (later the Muslim Journal). Titled "A Message of Concern", this article has run in every copy of the publication since.[94][95] He spoke about the subject, as well. For instance, in a June 17, 1977 Friday service, he taught on "The meaning of colors in Scripture and the Natural Powers of Black and White", describing ancient scriptural symbolism and its effect on modern-day scriptural and religious interpretation. He also elaborated on how colors in scripture have triggered racist influences in religious societies.[36] In 1977 he formed the Committee for the Removal of All Images that Attempt to Portray the Divine (C.R.A.I.D.).[96][97] Personal life Warith Deen Mohammed's first wife was Shirley Mohammed, with whom he had four children.[18] By 1994, according to The Los Angeles Times, Mohammed had been married four times and had fathered eight children.[14] Mohammed married Khadija Siddeeq in 2004.[98] Mohammed's eldest child Laila Mohammed stated that Warith Deen practiced polygamy.[99] However this polygamy assertion is disputed within the community.[100] Beyond his public role in religion and politics, Mohammed was involved in real estate, import clothing and skin care.[14] During his excommunications from the Nation of Islam in his 30s, he served as a laborer.[26] Imam Mohammed was also a businessman and endeavored to promote business among those that accepted to follow his leadership example. Death Mohammed died in Chicago in early September 2008 of a likely heart attack.[101] His body was found in his home by his assistant Rafa Muhammad on Tuesday September 9. In addition to cardiovascular disease, Mohammed suffered from diabetes. According to the Final Call newspaper, "The Janazah prayer service was delayed for close to an hour so the huge crowd that had assembled could be organized and situated."[102] The Chicago Tribune wrote that 8,000 Muslims attended his funeral.[103] His funeral was held at the Islamic Foundation Masjid in Villa Park, Illinois. Imam W.D. Mohammed was buried at Mount Glenwood Memory Gardens (South) Glenwood, Cook County, Illinois, USA Honors On his 44th Birthday October 30, 1977, Mohammed received the Key to the City of Detroit, Michigan from the then Mayor of Detroit Coleman Young, along with a Proclamation declaring October 30, 1977 Wallace D. Muhammad Day in Detroit.[104] Then Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton proclaimed March 26, 1983 "Economic Dignity Day" in the state of Arkansas. In doing so he stated the following: Whereas, through the leadership and efforts of Warith Deen Muhammad, the American Muslim Mission is on the path of economic progress and achieving growth through unity...(I) urge all citizens to engage in activities which promote economic progress.[105] On July 4, 1983 Muhammad shared the Reviewing Stand for the 1984 New World Patriotism Day Parade in Chicago with then State Senator, Emarald Jones, State Representative, Howard Brooks, parade Grand Marshal, Harold Washington the then Mayor of Chicago, Illinois, and many other dignitaries. Mayor Harold Washington issued a proclamation declaring July 4, 1984 as New world Patriotism Day Coalition Parade Day in Chicago.[106] In 1988, King Hassan II of Morocco, invited Mohammed to participate in the traditional devotions during Ramadan, stating: Through you Imam W. Deen Mohammed all the people in America are represented.[107] In 1992, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt honored Warith Deen Mohammed with "The Gold Medal of Recognition" for his religious work in the United States.[108] He received the Focolare Movement "Luminosa Award for Unity" in 1997.[109] On May 17, 1999, he received a Certificate of Appreciation from the United States Department of State.[110] In 2002, Ebony Magazine selected him as one of its "100 Most Influential Black Americans".[111] On December 9, 1994 he received the Cup of Compassion from the Hartford Seminary in Hartford, Connecticut.[77] On April 6, 2002, Mohammed was made a member of the Martin Luther King, Jr. International Board of Preachers at Morehouse College in Atlanta, and his portrait was hung in the International Chapel there.[85] On Saturday, September 3, 2005, the Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR) presented an award to W. Deen Mohammed in recognition of his outstanding leadership role in the American Muslim community at The Mosque Cares sponsored Annual Islamic Convention.[112] In eulogizing Mohammed on CNN blogs, the Executive Director of CAIR-Chicago, Ahmed Rehab, called him "America's Imam."[113] Publications Books authored The Teachings of W. D. Muhammad, Muhammad's Mosque #2, Chicago, Illinois, 1976 The Lectures of Emam W. D. Muhammad, Muhammad's Mosque #2, Chicago, Illinois, 1976 Book of Muslim Names, The Honorable Elijah Muhammad Mosque #2, Chicago, Illinois, February 1976 The Man and the Woman in Islam, The Honorable Elijah Muhammad Mosque #2, Chicago, Illinois, February 1976 As the Light Shineth from the East, W.D.M. Publications, Chicago, Illinois, 1980 Prayer and Al-Islam, Muhammad Islamic Foundation, Chicago, Illinois, 1982, Library of Congress Card Number: 82-61077 Religion on the Line, W.D.M. Publications, Chicago, Illinois, 1983 Imam W. Deen Muhammad speaks from Harlem, N.Y. Book 1, W. D. M. Publications, 1984 Imam W. Deen Muhammad speaks from Harlem, N.Y.: Challenges That Face Man Today Book 2, 1985 Meeting The Challenge: Halal Foods for Our Everyday Needs, The Honorable Elijah Muhammad Masjid, Chicago, Illinois, 1986 An African American Genesis, M.A.C.A. Publication Fund, Chicago, Illinois, 1986, Library of Congress Card Number: 86-63266 Focus on Al-Islam: Interviews with Imam W. Deen Mohammed, Zakat Publications, Chicago, Illinois, Dec. 1988, Library of Congress Card Number: 89-090728 Al-Islam: Unity, and Leadership, The Sense Maker, Chicago, Illinois, 1991, Library of Congress Card Number: 91-061449, ISBN 1-879698-00-5 Worst Oppression Is False Worship "The Key Is Tauheed-Oneness of Allah," W.D.M. Publications, Chicago, Illinois, 1991 Growth for a Model Community in America, W.D.M. Publications, Chicago, Illinois, 1995 Islam's Climate for Business Success, The Sense Maker, Chicago, Illinois, 1995, Library of Congress Card Number: 95-071105, ISBN 1-879698-01-3 Mohammed Speaks, W.D.M. Publications, Chicago, Illinois, 1999 Blessed Ramadan - The Fast of Ramadan Plans for a Better Future: Peace, Inclusion and International Brotherhood The Schemes Of Satan the Enemy of Man The Champion We Have In Common: The Dynamic African American Soul Books 1, 2, 3, & 4, The Mosque Cares Publications, August 2005 A Time for Greater Communities Volumes 1-4 Securing our Share of Freedom Prayer in al-Islam, A Learner's Guide w/Instructional CD, WDM Publications, Chicago, Illinois, 2007 Return to Innocence: Transitioning of the Nation of Islam, The Sense Maker, Chicago, Illinois, 2007 Life The Final Battlefield, W.D.M. Publications, Chicago, Illinois, 2008 Pamphlets A Look At W. Deen Mohammed: Muslim American Spokesman for Human Salvation, A Ministry of W. Deen Mohammed Publication, Chicago, Illinois, 1993 Video and audio presentations Imam W. Deen Mohammed: "Systems of Knowledge", Muslim News Magazine, recorded as a television special by MNM during the 1994 Islamic Convention in Washington, D.C. This classroom lecture was delivered in front of more than 200 Imams and scholars at the Renaissance Hotel. "Systems of Knowledge" is a classroom presentation on the essence of Quranic Arabic and its meaning to all mankind. This presentation marked the only time that Mohammed allowed cameras into one of his private Imam classes. RT: 60 minutes. 1994.[citation needed] he passing of Imam Warith Deen (W. D.) Mohammed is not only a loss for his community and the world of Islam but also for all of us. He was truly an extraordinary man and religious leader, a charismatic figure whose profile seemed to defy the usual definition of the term. Indeed throughout the years the militant and more physically imposing Louis Farrakhan, who in fact enjoyed far, far fewer followers, managed to overshadow W. D. Mohammed in media coverage. I first met Warith Deen at a small Catholic-Muslim gathering and discussion group hosted by the then Cardinal of Baltimore. The Vatican’s top official for inter-religious dialogue was also present. Two memories stand out. At first, as I sat at the discussion table, I couldn’t recognize who W. D. Mohammed was. There was little in the way he carried himself, spoke or acted that signaled that there was a prominent personality at the table. He neither dominated nor pontificated. Second, after the meeting when I was out on the street on my way home, I noticed an incredible entourage of cars with an imposing police escort. I was sure, it was the Vatican’s cardinal being whisked to the airport and accorded the security he warranted. As the entourage passed, there was W. D. Mohammed in the main limo. Warith Deen Mohammed (then known as Wallace D. Mohammed) became the Supreme Minister of the Nation of Islam upon the death of his father, Elijah Muhammad in February 1975. Soon after the son set out on what would become a substantial reformation of the doctrines and organization of the Nation. He integrated the Nation within the American Muslim community, the broader American society, and the global Islamic community. The Nation and its teachings were brought into conformity with orthodox Sunni Islam. Wallace Mohammed made the pilgrimage to Mecca and encouraged his followers to study Arabic in order to better understand Islam. The community came to observe Islam’s Five Pillars and black separatist doctrines were dropped as they community proceeded to participate within the political process and system. The equality of men and women believers was reaffirmed; women were given more responsible positions in the ministry of the community. The name of Nation was initially changed to the World Community of al-Islam in the West (WCIW); Mohammed Speaks became the Bilalian News, named after the first black convert to Islam. In 1980, as if to signal his and the community’s new religious identity and mission, Wallace changed his name to Warith Deen Mohammed, renamed the WCIW the American Muslim Mission, and the Bilalian News became the American Muslim Journal (later renamed Muslim Journal). While the great majority of the Nation followed him, a number of dissidents resisted the changes; Louis Farrakhan broke ranks and revived the name “Nation of Islam” in 1981. Many years later, in 2000 W.D. Mohammed and Farrakhan publicly embraced, and declared unity and reconciliation W.D. Mohammed became a prominent figure in inter-religious affairs. He was the first Muslim to give an invocation in the U.S. Senate and in 1993, he offered the prayer during the first Inaugural Interfaith Prayer Service of President Bill Clinton. On September 11, as Americans commemorate the attacks and tragedy of 9/11, Warith Deen Mohammed will be buried. His passing and the memory of his accomplishments are a witness and fittingly a reminder of the heart of Islam and the vast majority of its followers. ' Warith Deen Mohammed Photo of Warith Deen Mohammed "We should realize that the first identity is not an African or a European or a Saudi. The first identity is a human being. And as long as we build our differencesm our diversities (pardon me) upon that foundation that God gave us, the human foundation, we're in good shape. And we should just make all the progress we can, separately and all together." --Warith D. Mohammed, as told to This Far by Faith producer Valerie Linson Warith Deen Mohammed was born Wallace D. Muhammad. He was the seventh child of Elijah and Clara Muhammad. Elijah Muhammad, referred to as the Honorable Elijah Muhammad by his followers, led the Nation of Islam, an organization considered by some to be a kind of black Ku Klux Klan. But for the many African-Americans who became members — and for thousands of sympathizers — the Nation of Islam provided an answer to racial oppression. Self-reliance and "knowledge of self" were the driving philosophies of the Nation. Elijah Muhammad preached that the black man needed to stop looking to the white man for acceptance and learn to accept himself. Muhammad encouraged blacks to start their own businesses, and to stay in their own communities. In effect, he advocated a black "nation within a nation." The Nation of Islam taught that black people were the "original people" with a divinity bestowed upon them from God. In this theology, white people were considered devils --- and Elijah Muhammad was God's Messenger on earth. Wallace Muhammad grew up listening to his father’s teachings, and he believed them as a child. But as he grew older, he was increasingly aware of the discrepancies between the Islam his father taught, and the Islam taught in the Qu’ran and practiced by millions of Muslims worldwide. Breaking with his father and the Nation would prove emotionally difficult and physically dangerous, but Wallace’s faith eventually led him to guide the Nation away from a separatist, race-based theology and towards the world community of Islam. "The difference between religion and spirituality is that spirituality is human and divine. It is human in that God created us to be spiritually pure, innocent unblemished and that's human. But God also created us with an appetite for divine will." --Warith D. Mohammed, as told to This Far by Faith producer Valerie Linson KEY MOMENTS OF FAITH A CHILD'S AWAKENING When he was 13 years old Wallace was left alone while his family attended a meeting. Scared, he began to pray. But he couldn't summon an image of a God to call on for comfort. Wallace had been taught to tear up pictures of white men, even when he saw them in the paper, but pictures of the Nation of Islam's founder and "Savior" W.D. Fard showed a fair-skinned man. Wallace couldn't resolve the contradiction. Finally, he began his prayer: "Oh Allah, if I'm not seeing you correctly, please help me to see you correctly." This was the beginning of a journey on which Wallace would repeatedly question the teachings handed down by his father. As he told producer Valerie Linson, “I believe much of the Nation of Islam’s theology was intentionally made ridiculous so that we would one day be too smart for it, and would look for something better, and would search for our own way to freedom. That’s what I think my father wanted.” In late 1958, Elijah Muhammad appointed his 25-year old son as minister of Temple #11 in Philadelphia. There, Wallace began to acquaint the Philadelphia membership to orthodox Islamic practices. He taught the basics of Islamic prayer and introduced them to readings in the Qur'an - which was never read in Nation of Islam temples. But he was careful not to raise doubts about the leadership or divinity of his father. FREED BY PRISON In 1960, Wallace Muhammad, was convicted of draft evasion. Even though he could have performed community service as a conscientious objector, he chose to serve three years in Sandstone Federal Correctional Institution. He made that decision because his father insisted. At his sentencing hearing, he recalls, the judge said, “the young man is dominated by his father.” Every night for three years, those words rang in his ears. He resolved to study, become stronger, to become a better leader for the Nation of Islam. But the more he prayed, studied and read the Qu’ran, the more he came to believe that Muhammed, who lived in Arabia and received the Qu’ran 14 centuries ago, was the messenger of Allah and the last prophet. In accepting this, he had to reject what he had been taught. He made up his mind never again to preach that his father was the messenger of Allah and that W.D. Fard was God incarnate. At 32, Wallace Muhammad was released from prison. It was February 1963, months before the March on Washington. By then, the FBI had the Nation of Islam under constant surveillance. Elijah Muhammad was attacked by the media for leading a hate group, and by Malcolm X, who resigned amidst allegations that Elijah Muhammad had fathered several children out of wedlock. Confused, but still trying to protect his father, Wallace poured through the Bible and the Qu’ran to find justification for his father's extramarital relationships. In a letter to the Nation of Islam’s top ministers, Wallace Muhammad, he urged them to tell the truth. At the same time, he urged them to stop referring to Elijah Muhammad as the messenger of God. EXCOMMUNICATED AND DISOWNED Wallace was excommunicated from the Nation of Islam five different times for refusing to accept the divinity of Elijah Muhammad. He was forbidden to contact family members, including his mother. Meanwhile, his wife and child were harassed by Nation members who considered them traitors. Wallace and his family were subjected to threatening phone calls at all hours. Once, Wallace was nearly run over by a car. During these periods, Muhammad worked as a general laborer: welding and, on one occasion, mixing soup at the Campbell Soup factory. REINSTATEMENT AND LEADERSHIP In 1974, Wallace was permanently reinstated into the Nation of Islam and allowed to teach in the temples. Elijah Muhammad's health had been failing. When his father died in 1975, Wallace assumed control of the Nation of Islam. Within a year, he changed the name of the organization to the World Community of al-Islam in the West and later changed his own name to Warith Deen Mohammed. He did away with the Fruit of Islam, the Nation’s paramilitary organization, and abolished the Nation’s dress codes for men and women. Ministers became Imams and temples were renamed mosques. Followers were taught to pray as orthodox Muslims, to study the Qu'ran, and follow the five pillars of Islam. Warith Mohammed also taught that Elijah Muhammed was not a prophet, and that whites were not “blue-eyed devils.” He encouraged members to vote and enlist in military service. Although several thousand followed Louis Farrakhan when he split from Warith to re-establish the Nation of Islam, most members remained with Warith as he rapidly moved his community from the race-based, separatist beliefs of the Nation of Islam toward the orthodox practice of Sunni Islam. His thoughtful demeanor and profound spiritual conviction inspired a community of people steeped in the idea of self-reliance and spirituality. Warith Deen Mohammed Leader of the Nation of Islam In office February 26, 1975 – 1976 Preceded by Elijah Muhammad Succeeded by Louis Farrakhan Leader of the American Society of Muslims In office 1976 – August 31, 2003 Director of The Mosque Cares In office 2003 – September 9, 2008 Succeeded by Wallace D. Mohammed II Personal details Born Wallace D Mohammed October 30, 1933 Hamtramck, Michigan, U.S. Died September 9, 2008 (aged 74) Chicago, Illinois, U.S. Resting place Mount Glenwood Cemetery, Thornton, Illinois, U.S. Nationality American Spouse(s) Shirley Mohammed Khadijah Siddeeq-Mohammed Relations Dr. Akbar Muhammad, PHD, Jabir Herbert Muhammad Alma mater Muhammad University of Islam Occupation Imam, Religious Reformer, Muslim Scholar, Businessman Warith Deen Mohammed (born Wallace D. Muhammad; October 30, 1933 – September 9, 2008), also known as W. Deen Mohammed, Imam W. Deen Muhammad and Imam Warith Deen, was a progressive African American Muslim leader, theologian, philosopher, Muslim revivalist, and Islamic thinker (1975–2008) who disbanded the original Nation of Islam (NOI) in 1976 and transformed it into an orthodox mainstream Islamic movement, the World Community of Al-Islam in the West which later became the American Society of Muslims.[1][2][3] He was a son of Elijah Muhammad, the leader of the Nation of Islam from 1933 to 1975.[4][5] He became the national leader (Supreme Minister) of the Nation of Islam in 1975 after his father's death.[6] As a result of his personal studies and thinking, he had led the vast majority of the members of the original NOI to mainstream, traditional Sunni Islam by 1978.[7] With this merger, he oversaw the largest mass conversion to Islam in the history of the United States.[8] He rejected the previous deification of Wallace Fard Muhammad, accepted whites as fellow-worshippers, forged closer ties with mainstream Muslim communities, and introduced the Five Pillars of Islam into his group's theology.[3][9] Splinter groups resisting these changes formed after Elijah Muhammad's death, particularly under Louis Farrakhan, who in 1981 would revive the name Nation of Islam (from Final Call) for his organization. Farrakhan's NOI and previous Final Call claim direct continuity from the pre-1976 NOI.[3][10] Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early life and education 2 Religious leadership and ministry 2.1 Reforming the Nation of Islam 2.2 Building ties within the Muslim community 2.3 Interfaith cooperation 3 Political and social activities 4 Islamic beliefs and ideology 4.1 Fiqh 4.2 Imagery and color symbolism 5 Personal life 6 Death 7 Honors 8 Publications 8.1 Books authored 8.2 Pamphlets 8.3 Video and audio presentations 9 References 10 External links Biography Part of a series on:  Nation of Islam Mosque Maryam.jpg Mosque Maryam, Chicago, Illinois, United States Influencers[show] Leaders[hide] Wallace Fard Muhammad Elijah Muhammad Malcolm X Warith Deen Mohammed Louis Farrakhan Tynnetta Muhammad Mustapha Farrakhan Ishmael Muhammad Ava Muhammad David Muhammad James 3X Beliefs and theology[show] History[show] Publications[show] Subsidiaries[show] Offshoots[show] Related organizations[show] A coloured voting box.svg Politics portal Allah-green.svg Islam portal vte Early life and education Mohammed was born Wallace Delaney Muhammad on Yemans Street in Hamtramck, Michigan in 1933.[5][11] In 1980 he changed his name to Warithuddin Muhammad, Warith Deen Muhammad, which translates to 'Inheritor of the Religion of Muhammad'.[3][12] His parents were Clara and Elijah Muhammad, both highly active in the Nation of Islam (NOI), the organization that preached a form of Black nationalism and its own version of Islam.[13] From 1934 until his death in 1975, Elijah Muhammad led the Nation.[14] Named to honor Wallace Fard Muhammad (Fard), the founder of the Nation of Islam, Mohammed grew up in Chicago, one of seven siblings.[15] His early education came from the Muhammad University of Islam school system now known as the Clara Muhammad Schools, or Muhammad Schools.[16] He studied Arabic as a youth under Professor Jamal Diab, a Palestinian who had been hired by his father to teach at the M.U.I. in Chicago.[17] Mohammed became a minister under his father in late 1958 and served in Philadelphia during the late 1950s and early 1960s.[5][18][19] In 1961, on his 28th birthday, Mohammed began a term in federal prison for having refused induction into the United States military. He could have performed community service, but his father pressed him to accept the jail time.[5] He spent most of that time studying the Quran, the main Islamic holy book.[20] He became convinced that the Nation of Islam had to change. In 1963 he was released from prison.[21][22] Close to Malcolm X, who was also questioning the NOI, he found that by this time his viewpoints deviated significantly from those of his father, whom he no longer believed was a prophet.[5][23] Because of this conclusion, he was excommunicated five times, but by 1974, he was returned permanently to NOI.[5] Religious leadership and ministry Reforming the Nation of Islam Upon the death of his father on February 25, 1975, Mohammed was unanimously chosen as the leader of the Nation of Islam and introduced to the NOI membership as such at the annual Saviours' Day convention on February 26, 1975.[2][24][25] Among the first changes Mohammed instituted, he dropped the title Supreme Minister and took the title Chief Imam, or simply Imam, in 1976.[26][27] The same year, he unveiled a new flag for the NOI community.[28][29] These were just two of the many reforms Mohammed introduced.[3] Among others, he eliminated the NOI dress code, disbanded the military branch of the NOI, clarified the concept of the devil, and, through his Muhammad Speaks newspaper and public speeches, introduced and explained Islam's Five Pillars.[5][25][30] He stated that Fard was not divine and that his father was not a prophet.[23] All of the over 400 temples were converted into traditional Islamic mosques. He also renamed the community several times before finally settling on the American Society of Muslims to reflect the new thinking.[22][31] Mohammed was frank about his intentions to evolve the movement. On November 19, 1978 he spoke on the "Evolution of the Nation of Islam" at the American Academy of Religion in New Orleans.[32] Mohammed's changes reached deep into the philosophy of the movement his father had led for so long. He rejected literal interpretations of his father's theology and Black-separatist views and on the basis of his intensive independent study of Islamic law, history, and theology, he accepted whites as fellow worshipers.[33][34] However, he also encouraged African Americans (Bilalians) to separate themselves from their pasts, in 1976 calling upon them to change their surnames which were often given to their ancestors by slave masters.[12][35] He forged closer ties with mainstream Muslim communities, including Latinos.[36] He also decentralized power. On September 10, 1978 in an address in Atlanta he resigned as Chief Imam and appointed a six-member council to lead the Community.[37][38] Mohammed felt quite keenly his role in reform. In an interview published in the Muhammad Speaks newspaper and conducted by his brother Jabir Herbert Muhammad, Mohammed described his role as successor to their father as that of a Mujeddid,[39] one who would watch over the new Islam or community.[40][41] In 1979 he used the title Mujeddid (Mujaddid) on his byline in his weekly articles for the Bilalian News (the new title of Muhammad Speaks).[42] Warith Deen Mohammed gained widespread support among the international Muslim community, but his changes to the Nation of Islam were not universally accepted.[43] A number of dissident groups resisted, most notably those who followed Louis Farrakhan in breaking ranks with Mohammed. This group revived the name 'Nation of Islam' in 1977.[23][44] In 1995 Mohammed released a statement expressing concern about Farrakhan's motivations and the racial divisiveness of his ministry.[40][43] The pair embraced publicly and declared reconciliation at the annual Saviours' Day convention on February 25, 2000, but in August 10, 2007, Mohammed repeated his frustration with the separatist stance of the current Nation of Islam, stating that its leaders had, "for the last 10 years or more,...just been selling wolf tickets to the white race and having fun while they collect money and have fancy lifestyles."[45] He predicted a quiet evolution in the NOI towards unity with the mainstream American Muslim community. Building ties within the Muslim community Mohammed was intent on strengthening bonds between his movement and the wider American Muslim faith community as well as with followers of Islam abroad. It was his goal to align American Muslims with Sunni Islam.[15] In 1976, he took a delegation to Guyana on an official state visit to meet with Prime Minister L. Forbes Burnham, and the then President of Guyana Arthur Chung, during which he forged ties with the Muslim communities in the region.[46] In 1985, he met in Geneva, Switzerland with Dr. Muhammad Ahmad Al-Sharif, Secretary General of the World Islamic Call Society of Libya and Dr. Abdul Hakim Tabibi, an Afghan mujahid, to discuss areas of future cooperation with the World Islamic Call Society and the Muslim Community of America.[47] He hosted Grand Mufti Abdullah Mukhtar, the leader of an estimated 60 million Muslims at Masjid Bilal, during his first visit to the U.S. in 1994.[48] In 1999, he was elected to the Islamic Society of North America's shura board.[49] That same year, during Ramadan, he pledged to work with the then Grand Mufti of Syria, Shaikh Ahmed Kuftaro an-Naqshbandi for the advancement of Al-Islam during a meeting with Kuftaro and Shaikh Nazim al-Haqqanian-Naqshbandi.[50][51] He was the special invited guest and keynote speaker at the "Inaugural Conference on the Growth and Development of Islam in America", held at Harvard University on March 3–4, 2000.[52] Interfaith cooperation Just as Mohammed sought to be racially inclusive, he also focused on cooperation between multiple faiths. On May 23, 1976, he conducted a massive interfaith Spiritual Life Jubilee in Los Angeles, California and spoke on the subject "A New Heaven and a New Earth".[53] In 1977 he participated in a Muslim-Christian dialogue in Fort Worth, Texas with Dr. Jack Evans, then President of Southwestern Christian College in Terrell, Texas.[54] In February 1978, he gave a historic address before more than 1,000 Jews and Muslims at the Washington Hebrew Congregation in Washington, D.C., then under the leadership of Rabbi Joshua O. Haberman.[55] This was a focus that would persist throughout his career. In 1993 he spoke at the Interfaith Roundtable National Conference of Christians, Jews and Muslims in Detroit, Michigan.[47] In March 1995 he gave the keynote address at the Muslim-Jewish Convocation in Glencoe, Illinois.[56] From October 1–6, 1996 he met with Pope John Paul II and Cardinal Francis Arinze at the Holy See in Rome.[57] On August 17, 1997 he was presented the Luminosa Award for Unity from the Focolare Movement.[58] On September 9, 1997 he addressed the Baltimore Jewish Council speaking on themes of worldwide justice and fairness.[59] On May 18–20, 1998, he attended the Conference on Religion and Peace sponsored by the Center for Christian, Jewish Understanding of Sacred Heart University in Auschwitz, Poland.[56] In June 1998 he addressed the Muslim Friends of the Focolare conference in Rome, Italy,[60] in October of the following year, along with a 92-member delegation, he spoke before a gathering of 100,000 people in the Vatican.[61][62] Pope John Paul II and the Dalai Lama were both in attendance.[63] On October 29, 2001, Mohammed participated in an "Evening of Religious Solidarity" joined by Minister Louis Farrakhan, Pastor Robert H. Schuller, and members of the Parliament of the World's Religions at the Islamic Foundation in Villa Park, Illinois.[64] Political and social activities Throughout his ministry, Mohammed remained politically active, domestically and internationally. Early meetings with prominent political figures included Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1975, Sharjah ruler Sheik Sultan bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi in 1976, and U.S. President Jimmy Carter in 1977.[31][65][66] But Mohammed would attend many events around the world focused on the advancement of Islam, racial unity and world peace. He was the only American invited and the only American to attend the 10th Annual Islamic Conference of Ministers in May, 1979, in Fes, Morocco.[67][68] In April, 1988, he participated as the representative of Muslim Americans in the "Political and Religious Leaders Campaign for Planetary Survivor" in Oxford Town Hall. Later that year he was among 100 leaders in religion, government, business, law and philanthropy who gathered in Williamsburg, Virginia during the Williamsburg Charter Foundations "First Liberty Summit".[69] In 1995, he participated in the Forbes Forum on Management in Naples, Florida.[70] The following year, he participated in the "National Discussion on Race & Reconciliation" sponsored by the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.[71] In late 1997, he attended the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Teheran, Iran,[72] and he participated in The Religious Community and Moral Challenge of Poverty Round Table Discussion convened by former U. S. Senator Paul Simon in 1998 in Carbondale, Illinois.[73] During the month of November 1999 he attended consecutive World Peace Conferences. The first conference, Jubilenium Interfaith Conference for World Peace, was an invitation-only event held in Tiberias, Israel. The second was the 7th World Assembly of the World Conference on Religion and Peace, held in Amman, Jordan.[74] He was a prominent political speaker. Mohammed gave the first invocation in the United States Senate ever by a Muslim in 1992[75] That same year, he became the first Muslim to deliver an address on the floor of the Georgia State Legislature.[75] In 1993, he gave an Islamic prayer during the first Inaugural Interfaith Prayer Service of President Bill Clinton, and again in 1997 at the second Interfaith Prayer Service.[76] In 1996 he was invited to Egypt by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to address the Supreme Council of Affairs in Cairo on the theme "Islam and the Future of Dialogue between Civilizations".[60] He sat on a number of councils and committees, domestically and abroad. In 1986, he was selected to serve on the World Supreme Council of Masajid (mosques) as one of only three representatives of the United States.[68] Also in 1995 he was selected as a President of the World Conference of Religions for Peace (WCRP) and addressed its governing board in Copenhagen, Denmark.[63][77] In January 1997, he was appointed to then President Bill Clinton's Religious Advisory Council.[60] In 2000, he was named to the Executive Committee of the Religious Alliance Against Pornography (RAAP).[78] He made his opinions on political matters known. On July 4, 1976 he started the New World Patriotism Day celebrations which were conducted on Independence Day in major cities across America.[29][31][79] In 1984, Mohammed went against the mainstream African American political establishment and opposed Reverend Jesse Jackson's run for the Democratic nomination for President.[80] In 1985, to protest the Chicago probate court handling of an American Muslim Mission case, he organized a "Walk for Justice" that drew 500,000 participants.[81] On December 23, 1989 he spoke at the Annual Conference of the Islamic Committee for Palestine on the plight of the Palestinians.[82] In 1990, Mohammed supported and endorsed Neil Hartigan for Governor of Illinois.[83] He gave his support to the peacemaking and humanitarian efforts of Bishop Samuel Ruiz.[77] On September 10, 1990 he participated in the international conference on the "Current Situation in the Gulf", where he made his opposition to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait a matter of public record.[84] On behalf of the Muslim American Community, he donated $85,000 to Nelson Mandela to aid his efforts to end apartheid in South Africa during a personal meeting in Oakland, California on June 30, 1990.[70] On September 11, 2001, he denounced the terrorist attacks as un-Islamic.[56] Islamic beliefs and ideology Fiqh While emphasizing unity within the Muslim community, Warith Deen Mohammed called upon the American Muslim community to establish a new school of fiqh, a code of conduct for the observance of rituals, morals and social legislation in Islam.[85] He told ISLAMICA magazine in 2008 that he felt that the madhhab—the schools of thought within fiqh—were geographically influenced and should be regionally developed, suggesting that "I think we are gradually getting a sense of madhabs in America, especially those like me. We are getting a sense of madhabs. And with the coming generation I think that we will be getting a much stronger sense of it. It is coming more and more."[86] Imagery and color symbolism Mohammed was sensitive to the potential impact caused by the use of images and symbols in religion. In a 1975 article, he explored this topic and in 1976 published the first article on the subject in the Bilalian News (later the Muslim Journal). Titled "A Message of Concern", this article has run in every copy of the publication since.[87][88] He spoke about the subject, as well. For instance, in a June 17, 1977 Friday service, he taught on "The meaning of colors in Scripture and the Natural Powers of Black and White", describing ancient scriptural symbolism and its effect on modern-day scriptural and religious interpretation. He also elaborated on how colors in scripture have triggered racist influences in religious societies.[31] In 1977 he formed the Committee for the Removal of All Images that Attempt to Portray the Divine (C.R.A.I.D.).[89][90] Personal life Warith Deen Mohammed's first wife was Shirley Mohammed, with whom he had four children.[19] By 1994, according to The Los Angeles Times, Mohammed had been married four times and had fathered eight children.[15] Mohammed married Khadija Siddeeq in 2004.[91] Mohammed's eldest child Laila Mohammed stated that Warith Deen practiced polygamy.[92] However this polygamy assertion is disputed within the community.[93] Beyond his public role in religion and politics, Mohammed was involved in real estate, import clothing and skin care.[15] During his excommunications from the Nation of Islam in his 30s, he served as a laborer.[23] Death Mohammed died in Chicago in early September 2008 of a likely heart attack.[94] His body was found in his home by his assistant Rafia Muhammad on Tuesday September 9. In addition to cardiovascular disease, Mohammed suffered from diabetes. According to the Final Call newspaper, "The Janazah prayer service was delayed for close to an hour so the huge crowd that had assembled could be organized and situated."[95] The Chicago Tribune wrote that 8,000 Muslims attended his funeral.[96] His funeral was held at the Islamic Foundation Masjid in Villa Park, Illinois. Honors On his 44th Birthday October 30, 1977, Mohammed received the Key to the City of Detroit, Michigan from the then Mayor of Detroit Coleman Young, along with a Proclamation declaring October 30, 1977 Wallace D. Muhammad Day in Detroit.[97] Then Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton proclaimed March 26, 1983 "Economic Dignity Day" in the state of Arkansas. In doing so he stated the following: Whereas, through the leadership and efforts of Warith Deen Muhammad, the American Muslim Mission is on the path of economic progress and achieving growth through unity...(I) urge all citizens to engage in activities which promote economic progress.[98] On July 4, 1983 Muhammad shared the Reviewing Stand for the 1984 New World Patriotism Day Parade in Chicago with then State Senator, Emarald Jones, State Representative, Howard Brooks, parade Grand Marshal, Harold Washington the then Mayor of Chicago, Illinois, and many other dignitaries. Mayor Harold Washington issued a proclamation declaring July 4, 1984 as New world Patriotism Day Coalition Parade Day in Chicago.[99] In 1988, King Hassan II of Morocco, invited Mohammed to participate in the traditional devotions during Ramadan, stating: Through you Imam W. Deen Mohammed all the people in America are represented.[100] In 1992, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt honored Warith Deen Mohammed with "The Gold Medal of Recognition" for his religious work in the United States.[101] He received the Focolare Movement "Luminosa Award for Unity" in 1997.[102] On May 17, 1999, he received a Certificate of Appreciation from the United States Department of State.[103] In 2002, Ebony Magazine selected him as one of its "100 Most Influential Black Americans".[104] On December 9, 1994 he received the Cup of Compassion from the Hartford Seminary in Hartford, Connecticut.[70] On April 6, 2002, Mohammed was made a member of the Martin Luther King, Jr. International Board of Preachers at Morehouse College in Atlanta, and his portrait was hung in the International Chapel there.[78] On Saturday, September 3, 2005, the Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR) presented an award to W. Deen Mohammed in recognition of his outstanding leadership role in the American Muslim community at The Mosque Cares sponsored Annual Islamic Convention.[105] In eulogizing Mohammed on CNN blogs, the Executive Director of CAIR-Chicago, Ahmed Rehab, called him "America's Imam."[8] Publications Books authored The Teachings of W. D. Muhammad, Muhammad's Mosque #2, Chicago, Illinois, 1975 The Lectures of Emam W. D. Muhammad, Muhammad's Mosque #2, Chicago, Illinois, 1976 Book of Muslim Names, The Honorable Elijah Muhammad Mosque #2, Chicago, Illinois, February 1976 The Man and the Woman in Islam, The Honorable Elijah Muhammad Mosque #2, Chicago, Illinois, February 1976 As the Light Shineth from the East, W.D.M. Publications, Chicago, Illinois, 1980 Prayer and Al-Islam, Muhammad Islamic Foundation, Chicago, Illinois, 1982, Library of Congress Card Number: 82-61077 Religion on the Line, W.D.M. Publications, Chicago, Illinois, 1983 Imam W. Deen Muhammad speaks from Harlem, N.Y. Book 1, W. D. M. Publications, 1984 Imam W. Deen Muhammad speaks from Harlem, N.Y.: Challenges That Face Man Today Book 2, 1985 Meeting The Challenge: Halal Foods for Our Everyday Needs, The Honorable Elijah Muhammad Masjid, Chicago, Illinois, 1986 An African American Genesis, M.A.C.A. Publication Fund, Chicago, Illinois, 1986, Library of Congress Card Number: 86-63266 Focus on Al-Islam: Interviews with Imam W. Deen Mohammed, Zakat Publications, Chicago, Illinois, Dec. 1988, Library of Congress Card Number: 89-090728 Al-Islam: Unity, and Leadership, The Sense Maker, Chicago, Illinois, 1991, Library of Congress Card Number: 91-061449, ISBN 1-879698-00-5 Worst Oppression Is False Worship "The Key Is Tauheed-Oneness of Allah," W.D.M. Publications, Chicago, Illinois, 1991 Growth for a Model Community in America, W.D.M. Publications, Chicago, Illinois, 1995 Islam's Climate for Business Success, The Sense Maker, Chicago, Illinois, 1995, Library of Congress Card Number: 95-071105, ISBN 1-879698-01-3 Mohammed Speaks, W.D.M. Publications, Chicago, Illinois, 1999 Blessed Ramadan - The Fast of Ramadan Plans for a Better Future: Peace, Inclusion and International Brotherhood The Schemes Of Satan the Enemy of Man The Champion We Have In Common: The Dynamic African American Soul Books 1, 2, 3, & 4, The Mosque Cares Publications, August 2005 A Time for Greater Communities Volumes 1-4 Securing our Share of Freedom Prayer in al-Islam, A Learner's Guide w/Instructional CD, WDM Publications, Chicago, Illinois, 2007 Return to Innocence: Transitioning of the Nation of Islam, The Sense Maker, Chicago, Illinois, 2007 Life The Final Battlefield, W.D.M. Publications, Chicago, Illinois, 2008 Pamphlets A Look At W. Deen Mohammed: Muslim American Spokesman for Human Salvation, A Ministry of W. Deen Mohammed Publication, Chicago, Illinois, 1993 Video and audio presentations Imam W. Deen Mohammed: "Systems of Knowledge", Muslim News Magazine, recorded as a television special by MNM during the 1994 Islamic Convention in Washington, D.C. This classroom lecture was delivered in front of more than 200 Imams and scholars at the Renaissance Hotel. "Systems of Knowledge" is a classroom presentation on the essence of Quranic Arabic and its meaning to all mankind. This presentation marked the only time that Mohammed allowed cameras into one of his private Imam classes. RT: 60 minutes. 1994.[citation needed] Nation of Islam Nation of Islam Symbol.png Abbreviation NOI Formation July 4, 1930; 88 years ago Founder Wallace Fard Muhammad Founded at Detroit, Michigan, U.S. Type Political religious movement Legal status Active Headquarters Mosque Maryam, Chicago, Illinois Location United States Membership (2007 estimate) 20,000–50,000[1] Official language English and Arabic[citation needed] Leader Louis Farrakhan Key people Elijah Muhammad Subsidiaries Fruit of Islam Muhammad University of Islam Muslim Girls Training Star Chamber Academy Website www.noi.org Part of a series on:  Nation of Islam Mosque Maryam.jpg Mosque Maryam, Chicago, Illinois, United States Influencers[hide] Satokata Takahashi Leaders[hide] Wallace Fard Muhammad Elijah Muhammad Malcolm X Warith Deen Mohammed Louis Farrakhan Tynnetta Muhammad Mustapha Farrakhan Ishmael Muhammad Ava Muhammad David Muhammad James 3X Beliefs and theology[hide] Saviours' Day Nation of Islam and antisemitism Tribe of Shabazz Yakub History[hide] Million Man March Millions More Movement 20th Anniversary of the Million Man March: Justice or Else Publications[hide] A Torchlight for America The Final Call Muhammad Speaks How to Eat to Live Message to the Blackman Subsidiaries[hide] Fruit of Islam Muhammad University of Islam Muslim Girls Training Star Chamber Academy Offshoots[hide] American Society of Muslims Five-Percent Nation United Nation of Islam Related organizations[hide] Black Dragon Society New Black Panther Party Peace Movement of Ethiopia Your Black Muslim Bakery A coloured voting box.svg Politics portal Allah-green.svg Islam portal vte The Nation of Islam, abbreviated as NOI, is an African American political and religious movement, founded in Detroit, Michigan, United States, by Wallace D. Fard Muhammad on July 4, 1930.[2] Its stated goals are to improve the spiritual, mental, social, and economic condition of African Americans in the United States and all of humanity.[3] Critics have described the organization as being black supremacist[4] and antisemitic.[5][6][7] The Southern Poverty Law Center tracks the NOI as a hate group.[8][9] Its official newspaper is The Final Call. In 2007, the core membership was estimated to be between 20,000 and 50,000.[1] After Fard disappeared in June 1934, the Nation of Islam was led by Elijah Muhammad, who established places of worship (called temples or mosques), a school named Muhammad University of Islam, farms, and real estate holdings in the United States and abroad.[10] The Nation has long been a strong advocate of African-American businesses.[11] There were a number of splits and splinter groups during Elijah Muhammad's leadership, most notably the departure of senior leader Malcolm X to become a Sunni Muslim. After Elijah Muhammad's death in 1975, his son, Warith Deen Mohammed, changed the name of the organization to "World Community of Islam in the West" (and twice more after that), and attempted to convert it to a mainstream Sunni Muslim ideology.[12] In 1977, Louis Farrakhan rejected Warith Deen Mohammed's leadership and re-established the Nation of Islam on the original model. He took over the Nation of Islam's headquarters temple, Mosque Maryam (Mosque #2) in Chicago, Illinois. Since 2010, under Farrakhan, members have been strongly encouraged to study Dianetics, and the Nation claims it has trained 1,055 auditors.[13] Contents 1 History 2 Beliefs and theology 2.1 Official platform 2.2 Cosmology 2.3 Separatism 2.4 Teachings on race 2.5 The Mother Plane and Ezekiel's Wheel 3 Criticism 3.1 Seditious influence 3.2 Antisemitism 3.3 Anti Asian sentiment 4 Comparison with traditional Islam 4.1 Dispute between the NOI and the Italian Muslim Association 5 Foreign affiliations 6 Press and media 6.1 Videos 6.2 The Final Call 7 Noted current and former members 8 See also 9 References 10 Further reading 11 External links History The NOI was founded in Detroit in 1930, by Wallace Fard Muhammad, also known as W. D. Fard Muhammad.[14][15] His goal, according to the Nation of Islam, was to "teach the downtrodden and defenseless Black people a thorough Knowledge of God and of themselves, and to put them on the road to Self-Independence with a superior culture and higher civilization than they had previously experienced."[16] According to the NOI, Fard chose Elijah Muhammad to be his assistant in 1931. According to Muhammad, Fard trained him daily for nine months, then less frequently for about two years. In May 1933, shortly after naming Elijah Muhammad Minister of Islam, Fard disappeared without notifying his followers or designating a successor.[17][18] In the wake of Fard's disappearance, several potential leaders emerged. Muhammad asserted that Fard had selected him to be his successor and trained him "day and night" for three years. He argued that Fard was God incarnate, and that Fard had revealed this to him alone. Muhammad established a newspaper, The Final Call to Islam, initially referring to Fard as a prophet and later as Almighty God. He prevailed over his rivals as leader.[19] Elijah Muhammad In 1942, during World War II, Elijah Muhammad was convicted of violating the Selective Service Act and jailed. Many other Nation of Islam members were similarly charged, as NOI opposed serving in the United States military. Upon his release in 1946, Elijah Muhammad slowly built up the membership of his movement through recruitment in the postwar decades. His program called for the establishment of a separate nation for black Americans and the adoption of a religion based on the worship of Allah and on the belief that blacks were his chosen people.[20][21] During this time, the Nation of Islam attracted Malcolm Little. While in prison in Boston for burglary from 1946 to 1952, Little joined the Nation of Islam. He was influenced by his brother, Reginald, who had become a member in Detroit. Little quit smoking, gambling and eating pork, in keeping with the Nation's practices and dietary restrictions. He spent long hours reading books in the prison library. He sharpened his oratory skills by participating in debating classes. Following Nation tradition, Elijah Muhammad ordered him to replace his surname, "Little", with an "X", a custom among Nation of Islam followers who considered their surnames to have been imposed by white slaveholders after their African names were taken from them.[22] Malcolm X rose rapidly to become a minister and national spokesperson for the NOI. He is largely credited with the group's dramatic increase in membership between the early 1950s and early 1960s (from 500 to 25,000 by one estimate;[23] from 1,200 to 50,000 or 75,000 by another).[24] In March 1964, Malcolm X left the Nation due to disagreements with Elijah Muhammad; among other things, Malcolm X cited his interest in working with other civil rights leaders, saying that Muhammad had prevented him from doing so in the past.[25] Later, Malcolm X also said Muhammad had engaged in extramarital affairs with young Nation secretaries‍—‌a serious violation of Nation teachings.[26] On February 21, 1965, Malcolm X was shot and killed while giving a speech at the Audubon Ballroom in Washington Heights, New York.[27] In March 1966, three NOI members were convicted of assassinating Malcolm X.[28][29][30] A crowd of Muslims applaud during Elijah Muhammad's annual Saviors' Day message in Chicago in 1974 In 1955, Louis Wolcott joined the Nation of Islam.[31] Following custom, he also replaced his surname with an "X". He was given his new name, "Farrakhan", by Elijah Muhammad. In 1965, following the assassination of Malcolm X, Farrakhan emerged as the protege of Malcolm. Like his predecessor, Farrakhan was a dynamic, charismatic leader and a powerful speaker with the ability to appeal to the African-American masses.[32] At the time of Elijah Muhammad's death in 1975, there were 75 NOI centers across America.[33] The Nation's leadership chose Wallace Muhammad, also known as Warith Deen Mohammad, the fifth of Elijah's sons—not Farrakhan—as the new Supreme Minister. At the time, Nation of Islam was founded upon the principles of self-reliance and black supremacy, a belief that mainstream Muslims consider heretical.[34] He shunned his father's theology and black pride views, forging closer ties with mainstream Muslim communities in an attempt to transition the Nation of Islam into orthodoxy more similar to Sunni Islam.[35] Under W. D. Mohammed's leadership, the Nation of Islam decentralized into many bodies of followers led by many different leaders. This made it hard to track the exact number of NOI members, but it is estimated to have been in the tens of thousands.[36] The Million Man March, Washington, D.C., October 1995 In 1977, Farrakhan resigned from Wallace Muhammad's reformed organization. He worked to rebuild the Nation of Islam upon the original foundation established by Wallace Fard Muhammad and Elijah Muhammad. Farrakhan traveled across America speaking in cities to gain new followers. Over time, Farrakhan regained many of the Nation of Islam's original properties. There are now mosques and study groups in over 120 American cities attributed to Farrakhan's work as a leader.[37] In 1995, the Nation of Islam sponsored the Million Man March in Washington, D.C. to promote African-American unity and family values. Estimates of the number of marchers were given between 400,000 and 840,000. Under Farrakhan's leadership, the Nation of Islam tried to redefine the standard "black male stereotype" of drug and gang violence. Meanwhile, the Nation continued to promote social reform in African-American communities according to its traditional goals of self-reliance and economic independence.[37] Under Farrakhan's leadership, the Nation was one of the fastest growing of the various political movements in the country. Foreign branches of the Nation were formed in Ghana, London, Paris, and the Caribbean islands. In order to strengthen the international influence of the Nation, Farrakhan attempted to establish relations with Muslim countries. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1991 and experienced a near-death experience in 2000 due to complications. After that experience, Farrakhan toned down the politics of NOI and attempted to strengthen relations with other minority communities, including Native Americans, Hispanics, and Asians.[37] On May 8, 2010, Farrakhan publicly announced his embrace of Dianetics and has actively encouraged Nation of Islam members to undergo auditing from the Church of Scientology.[38][39] Since the announcement in 2010, the Nation of Islam has been hosting its own Dianetics courses and its own graduation ceremonies. At the third such ceremony, which was held on Saviours' Day 2013, it was announced that nearly 8500 members of the organization had undergone Dianetics auditing. The organization announced it had graduated 1,055 auditors and had delivered 82,424 hours of auditing. The graduation ceremony was certified by the Church of Scientology, and the Nation of Islam members received certification. The ceremony was attended by Shane Woodruff, vice-president of the Church of Scientology's Celebrity Centre International. He stated that, "[t]he unfolding story of the Nation of Islam and Dianetics is bold, [i]t is determined and it is absolutely committed to restoring freedom and wiping hell from the face of this planet."[13] Beliefs and theology African-American topics African America History (timeline)[show] Culture[show] Religion[show] Political movements[show] Civic / economic groups[show] Sports[show] Ethnic subdivisions[show] Languages[show] Diaspora[show] Lists[show] Category: African-American society AmericaAfrica.svg African American portal vte Main article: Beliefs and theology of the Nation of Islam Nation of Islam leader (1981–present) Louis Farrakhan The main belief of the NOI and its followers is that there is no other God but Allah. They teach that their founder, Master Fard Muhammad is the Mahdi.[40] The official beliefs of the NOI have been outlined in books, documents, and articles published by the organization, and in speeches by Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X, Farrakhan, and other ministers. Many of Elijah Muhammad's teachings may be found in Message to the Blackman in America.[41] Written lessons from 1930 to 1934 were passed from W. Fard Muhammad to his student, Elijah Muhammad. These were collected and entitled The Supreme Wisdom. The NOI continues to teach its followers that the present world society is segmented into three distinct categories. They teach that from a general perspective, 85% of the population are the "deaf, dumb and blind" masses of the people who "are easily led in the wrong direction and hard to lead in the right direction". Those 85% of the masses are said to be manipulated by 10% of the people. Those 10% rich "slave-makers" are said to manipulate the 85% masses of the people through ignorance, the skillful use of religious doctrine, and the mass media. The third group is referred to as the 5% "poor righteous teachers" of the people of the world, who know the truth of the manipulation of the 85% masses of the people by the 10%. The 5% "righteous teachers" are at constant struggle and war with the 10% to reach and "free the minds" of the masses of the people.[42][43] Official platform Members of the Nation of Islam, San Francisco, California, 1994 An official Nation of Islam platform referred to as "The Muslim Program" was written by Elijah Muhammad in his book Message to the Blackman in America (1965). The itemized platform contains two sections; "What The Muslims Want", consisting of 10 points; and "What The Muslims Believe", consisting of 12 points.[40] Cosmology Elijah Muhammad once said that the Moon was once a part of the Earth, and that the Earth is over 76 trillion years old.[44] The entire land mass on the Earth was called "Asia". This was, Elijah Muhammad claimed, long before Adam.[45] Elijah Muhammad declared that Black People in America are descendants of the Asian black nation and of the tribe of Shabazz. He writes on page 31 of his book, "Message to the Blackman in America", "...who is this tribe of Shabazz? Originally, they were the tribe who came with the earth (or this part) 66 trillion years ago when a great explosion on our planet divided it into two parts. One we call earth and the other moon. This was done by one of our scientists, God, who wanted the people to speak one language, one dialect for all, but was unable to bring this about."[46] Separatism In an April 13, 1997, interview on NBC's Meet the Press, Tim Russert asked Farrakhan to explain the Nation of Islam's view on separation: Tim Russert: "Once a week, on the back page [of your newspaper] is The Muslim Program, 'What the Muslims Want' [written in 1965]. The first is in terms of territory, 'Since we cannot get along with them in peace and equality, we believe our contributions to this land and the suffering forced upon us by white America justifies our demand for complete separation in a state or territory of our own.' Is that your view in 1997, a separate state for Black Americans?" Minister Louis Farrakhan: "First, the program starts with number one. That is number four. The first part of that program is that we want freedom, a full and complete freedom. The second is, we want justice. We want equal justice under the law, and we want justice applied equally to all, regardless of race or class or color. And the third is that we want equality. We want equal membership in society with the best in civilized society. If we can get that within the political, economic, social system of America, there's no need for point number four. But if we cannot get along in peace after giving America 400 years of our service and sweat and labor, then, of course, separation would be the solution to our race problem."[47] Teachings on race Nation of Islam members at Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park, London, March 1999. Wallace Fard Muhammad taught that the original peoples of the world were black and that white people were a race of "devils" created by a scientist named Yakub (the Biblical and Qur'anic Jacob) on the Greek island of Patmos. According to the supreme wisdom lessons, Fard taught that whites were devils because of a culture of lies and murder that Yakub instituted on the island to ensure the creation of his new people. Fard taught that Yakub established a secret eugenics policy among the ruling class on the island. They were to kill all dark babies at birth and lie to the parents about the child's fate. Further, they were to ensure that lighter-skinned children thrived in society. This policy encouraged a general preference for light skin. It was necessary to allow the process of grafting or making of a lighter-skinned race of people who would be different. The idea was that if the light-skinned people were allowed to mate freely with the dark-skinned people, the population would remain dark-skinned due to the genetic dominance of the original dark-skinned people. This process took approximately 600 years to produce a blond-haired, blue-eyed group of people. As they migrated into the mainland, they were greeted and welcomed by the indigenous people wherever they went. But according to the supreme wisdom lessons, they started making trouble among the righteous people, telling lies and causing confusion and mischief. This is when the ruling class of the Middle East decided to round up all the troublemakers they could find and march them out, over the hot desert sands, into the caves and hillsides of Europe. Elijah claimed that this history is well-known and preserved, and is ritualized or re-enacted within many fraternal organizations and secret societies. Fard taught that much of the savage ways of white people came from living in the caves and hillsides of Europe for over 2,000 years without divine revelation or knowledge of civilization.[48] The writings of Elijah Muhammad advise a student must learn that the white man is "Yacub's grafted Devil" and "the Skunk of the planet Earth".[49][unreliable source?] The Nation of Islam teaches that black people are the original people, and that all other people come from them. Farrakhan has stated, regarding spiritual ascension, "If you look at the human family—now, I'm talking about black, brown, red, yellow and white—we all seem to be frozen on a subhuman level of existence. In Islam and, I believe, in Christian theology and Jewish theology as well, there are three stages of human development. The first stage is called the animalistic stage of development. But when we submit to animal passions, then we can do evil things to one another in that animalistic stage of development. But when moral consciousness comes and we have a self-accusing spirit, it is then that we become human beings. Right now, we have the potential for humanity, but we have not reached that potential, because we are functioning on the animalistic plane of existence."[50] The Blackman is the original man. From him came all brown, yellow, red, and white people. By using a special method of birth control law, the Blackman was able to produce the white race. This method of birth control was developed by a Black scientist known as Yakub, who envisioned making and teaching a nation of people who would be diametrically opposed to the Original People. A Race of people who would one day rule the original people and the earth for a period of 6,000 years. Yakub promised his followers that he would graft a nation from his own people, and he would teach them how to rule his people, through a system of tricks and lies whereby they use deceit to divide and conquer, and break the unity of the darker people, put one brother against another, and then act as mediators and rule both sides. — Elijah Muhammad.[51] In an interview on NBC's Meet the Press, Farrakhan said the following in response to host Tim Russert's question on the Nation of Islam's teachings on race: You know, it's not unreal to believe that white people—who genetically cannot produce yellow, brown or black—had a Black origin. The scholars and scientists of this world agree that the origin of man and humankind started in Africa and that the first parent of the world was black. The Qur'an says that God created Adam out of black mud and fashioned him into shape. So if white people came from the original people, the Black people, what is the process by which you came to life? That is not a silly question. That is a scientific question with a scientific answer. It doesn't suggest that we are superior or that you are inferior. It suggests, however, that your birth or your origin is from the black people of this earth: superiority and inferiority is determined by our righteousness and not by our color.[47] Elijah Muhammad addressing followers including boxer champion Muhammad Ali, 1964 Pressed by Russert on whether he agreed with Elijah Muhammad's preaching that whites are "blue-eyed devils", Farrakhan responded: Well, you have not been saints in the way you have acted toward the darker peoples of the world and toward even your own people. But, in truth, Mr. Russert, any human being who gives themself over to the doing of evil could be considered a devil. In the Bible, in the "Book of Revelation", it talks about the fall of Babylon. It says Babylon is fallen because she has become the habitation of devils. We believe that that ancient Babylon is a symbol of a modern Babylon, which is America. [citation needed] During the time when Malcolm X was a member and leader of the Nation of Islam, he preached that black people were genetically dominant to white people but were dominated by a system of white supremacy: Thoughtful white people know they are inferior to Black people. Even [Senator James] Eastland knows it. Anyone who has studied the genetic phase of biology knows that white is considered recessive and black is considered dominant. The entire American economy is based on white supremacy. Even the religious philosophies, in essence, white supremacy. A white Jesus. A white Virgin. White angels. White everything. But a black Devil, of course. The "Uncle Sam" political foundation is based on white supremacy, relegating nonwhites to second-class citizenship. It goes without saying that the social philosophy is strictly white supremacist. And the educational system perpetuates white supremacy.[52] After Malcolm X made his pilgrimage to Mecca, he stated that seeing Muslims of "all colors, from blue-eyed blonds to black-skinned Africans", interacting as equals led him to see Islam as a means by which racial problems could be overcome. He credits his evolving views on Islam and race as a reason for leaving the Nation of Islam and his decision to convert to Sunni Islam.[53] The Nation of Islam teaches that intermarriage or race mixing should be prohibited. This is point 10 of the official platform, "What the Muslims Want", published 1965.[54] Farrakhan nevertheless stated in the Tim Russert interview: The mother of the Leader who came to North America to teach us, Fard Muhammad, His mother was a white woman. His father was a black man. So where there is love, love transcends our racial denomination or ethnicity. Love is the great power of transformation. I don't think that we can say when two people are in love that they shouldn't marry one another. But I would prefer that the black man and the black woman marry into their own kind.[55] The Mother Plane and Ezekiel's Wheel Main article: Ezekiel's Wheel Elijah Muhammad taught his followers about a Mother Plane or Wheel, a UFO that was seen and described in the visions of the prophet Ezekiel in the "Book of Ezekiel", in the Hebrew Bible. Now as I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the earth beside the living creatures, one for each of the four of them. As for the appearance of the wheels and their construction: their appearance was like the gleaming of beryl. And the four had the same likeness, their appearance and construction being as it were a wheel within a wheel. When they went, they went in any of their four directions without turning as they went. And their rims were tall and awesome, and the rims of all four were full of eyes all around. — Ezekiel 1:15–18 (ESV) Farrakhan, commenting on his teacher's description said the following: The Honorable Elijah Muhammad told us of a giant Mother Plane that is made like the universe, spheres within spheres. White people call them unidentified flying objects (UFOs). Ezekiel, in the Old Testament, saw a wheel that looked like a cloud by day but a pillar of fire by night. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad said that that wheel was built on the island of Nippon, which is now called Japan, by some of the Original scientists. It took $15 billion in gold at that time to build it. It is made of the toughest steel. America does not yet know the composition of the steel used to make an instrument like it. It is a circular plane, and the Bible says that it never makes turns. Because of its circular nature it can stop and travel in all directions at speeds of thousands of miles per hour. He said there are 1,500 small wheels in this Mother Wheel, which is a half mile by a half mile [800 m by 800 m]. This Mother Wheel is like a small human-built planet. Each one of these small planes carry three bombs. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad said these planes were used to set up mountains on the earth. The Qur'an says it like this: We have raised mountains on the earth lest it convulse with you. How do you raise a mountain, and what is the purpose of a mountain? Have you ever tried to balance a tire? You use weights to keep the tire balanced. That's how the earth is balanced, with mountain ranges. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad said that we have a type of bomb that, when it strikes the earth a drill on it is timed to go into the earth and explode at the height that you wish the mountain to be. If you wish to take the mountain up a mile [1.6 km], you time the drill to go a mile in and then explode. The bombs these planes have are timed to go one mile down and bring up a mountain one mile high, but it will destroy everything within a 50-square-mile [130 km²] radius. The white man writes in his above top secret memos of the UFOs. He sees them around his military installations like they are spying. That Mother Wheel is a dreadful-looking thing. White folks are making movies now to make these planes look like fiction, but it is based on something real. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad said that Mother Plane is so powerful that with sound reverberating in the atmosphere, just with a sound, she can crumble buildings. — Louis Farrakhan, The Divine Destruction of America: Can She Avert It?[56] Criticism The first book analyzing the Nation of Islam was The Black Muslims in America (1961) by C. Eric Lincoln. Lincoln describes the use of doctrines during religious services: Often the minister reads passages from well-known historical, sociological, or anthropological works, and finds in them inconspicuous references to the black man's true history in the world ... Occasionally the minister chides the audience for its skepticism: "I know you don't believe me because I happen to be a black man. Well, you can look it up in a book I'm going to tell you about that was written by a white man." He then reads off references that his hearers are challenged to check. In recent years, the embrace of Dianetics under Farrakhan has drawn much criticism that the Nation of Islam is becoming too close to the Church of Scientology and the ideas of its founder L. Ron Hubbard, whom Farrakhan has said he respects. Farrakhan has praised Hubbard, saying he was "exceedingly valuable to every Caucasian person on this Earth". Of followers of Scientology, he stated "You can still be a Christian; you just won't be a devil Christian. You'll still be a Jew, but you won't be a satanic Jew!"[38][39][57] Seditious influence In 1930s Japanese national Satokata Takahashi allegedly promised financial aid and military assistance to African Americans in Detroit if they "joined a war against the white race". In 1938 the FBI charged that Nakane had an influential presence within the NOI, speaking as a guest at temples in Chicago and Detroit. A poster was removed from a raid of Muhammad's Chicago home that was a copy of a poster removed from Detroit headquarters of Takahashi. The poster was entitled "Calling the Four Winds". There were images of four guns, each titled "Asia" and they had barrels pointing to the center of the poster, which had an image of the United States. "Calling the Four Winds" is the title of a speech written by Takahashi's wife.[58] Muhammad engaged in the use of various names to elude federal authorities because they were monitoring Black Muslims for sedition and failure to register for the draft. He used names such as Elijah Karriem, Elijah Evans, Gulam Bogans, Mr. Muck Muck, and Muhammad Rasoul. Muhammad went to prison from 1942–1946 for influencing his followers not to register.[59] Antisemitism Main article: Nation of Islam and antisemitism According to the Anti-Defamation League, the Nation of Islam "has maintained a consistent record of anti-Semitism and racism since its founding in the 1930s."[60] The Nation of Islam has repeatedly denied charges of anti-Semitism.[61] Farrakhan has stated, "The ADL ... uses the term 'anti-Semitism' to stifle all criticism of Zionism and the Zionist policies of the State of Israel and also to stifle all legitimate criticism of the errant behavior of some Jewish people toward the non-Jewish population of the earth."[62] However, NOI officials and outlets including Farrakhan have also been accused of repeatedly using anti-semitic and homophobic rhetoric, including saying, "It's the wicked Jews, the false Jews, that are promoting lesbianism, homosexuality. It's the wicked Jews, false Jews, that make it a crime for you to preach the word of God, then they call you homophobic!"[8] Regarding condemnation for having referred to Adolf Hitler as being a "great man", Farrakhan has said, "I have throughout my life referred to Hitler as a wicked man, yet, the national news media insists that I called him a 'great man', with the implied inference that 'great' means 'good'. However, I did refer to him as 'wickedly great', in the same sense that Genghis Khan stands out in history."[63] David W. Leinweber of Emory University asserts that the Nation of Islam engages in revisionist and antisemitic interpretations of the Holocaust and that they exaggerate the role of Jews in the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Leinweber and others use the original statements of Farrakhan and others as the basis for their evaluation.[64] NOI Health Minister Abdul Alim Muhammad has accused Jewish doctors of injecting Blacks with the AIDS virus.[65][66] Anti Asian sentiment Jeffery Muhammad, the Nation of Islam's longtime leader in Dallas, Texas, stated: They [Asian-American merchants in black neighborhoods] are just the latest in a long line of people who have come to this country—like Jews, Italians, Indians and now Asians—who have sucked the blood of and exploited the black community.[67] A Nation of Islam mosque in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States, 2005. Comparison with traditional Islam Part of a series on Islam Allah3.svg Beliefs[show] Practices[show] Texts and laws[show] History[show] Culture and society[show] Related topics[show] Allah-green.svg Islam portal vte This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages) This section needs additional citations for verification. (December 2014) This article possibly contains original research. (February 2015) The Nation of Islam resembles traditional Sunni Islam with some differences. It preaches the following of the Five Pillars of the Islamic Faith, though somewhat differently. Interpretation of the Five Pillars differs among many different Islamic schools of thought, as well as among different Islamic cultures. Belief in one God (Allah): Muslims believe that Allah is the One and only God (known as Tawhid). Prayer: Both traditional Muslims and the Nation of Islam believe that the five daily prayers (salat) are mandatory. The leader of the NOI, Elijah Muhammad, was once quoted as saying to his followers that prayer is 'necessary for spiritual advancement'. Fasting in the Islamic month of Ramadan: Traditional Muslims and the Nation of Islam believe that fasting at this time is compulsory, although NOI gives the option to fast during the month of December instead. This was done to make Ramadan easier for new converts and to break the habit of celebrating Christmas.[68] Compulsory Charity (zakat): Both traditional Islam and the Nation of Islam share the belief in charity. Charity can be defined as contributing money, or contributing time to do a service to the community.[69] Pilgrimage (Hajj) – pilgrimage to Mecca: Both traditional Muslims and Nation of Islam believe that this is compulsory if one has the means to undertake the journey. Other doctrines of the Nation of Islam are disputed, specifically: Messiah and Mahdi: NOI teaches that their founder, Master W. Fard Muhammad, is the long-awaited Messiah of the Jews and the Mahdi of the Muslims.[40] Traditional Muslims have different views on the Mahdi. Some Muslims are still awaiting the coming of the Mahdi. Others believe Mahdi is not an authenthic Islamic belief. Most also believe that the Jews' awaited Messiah is indeed Jesus (the prophet not God) who Christians believe is the Son of God. Status of the Islamic prophet Muhammad vs. other prophets: The Nation of Islam believes that Muhammad was the last prophet of Allah, and that Elijah Muhammad was a messenger, taught by God in the person of the Mahdi, whom the NOI claim as "Master Fard Muhammad" (W. D. Fard).[70] The Nation of Islam points to the Quran: "And for every nation there is a messenger. So when their messenger comes, the matter is decided between them with justice, and they are not wronged."—Quran 10:47 Yakub: Traditional Islam does not hold to the teachings about "Yakub" that NOI proclaims. Due to these differences, the Nation of Islam is not recognized by many mainstream Muslims.[71][72] Dispute between the NOI and the Italian Muslim Association This section provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject. Please help improve the article with a good introductory style. (March 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) On March 7, 1998 the Board of Ulema of the Italian Muslim Association (AMI) issued a fatwa against the Nation of Islam. The AMI issued the fatwa after being asked their opinion on the NOI; it was the AMI's opinion that members of the NOI were not Muslim, on the grounds that "their official doctrine is that Allah appeared in the form of a human being named Fareed Muhammad, and that this "incarnation of God" chose another man, called Elijah Muhammad, as his Prophet." In the AMI's view, this contradicts the core Muslim tenet of monotheism, and as such members of the NOI could not be considered Muslim; "Muslims must declare this truth, and each one of them who keeps silent while listening to Mr. Farrakhan being called "a Muslim leader" is committing a sin."[72][unreliable source?] Foreign affiliations The NOI obtained substantial funds from the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, notably a $5 million loan used to pay back-taxes and costs for the home of the movement's former leader Elijah Muhammad and a $3 million loan from Libya in the 1970s to acquire its opulent headquarters on Chicago's South Side.[73] Libya channeled funds through the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) based in Canada to a Libyan intelligence front in Washington. The money was provided to finance trips to Tripoli by the NOI and American radicals, according to a Canadian parliamentary investigation and a prosecution by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.[74] "At least one gathering attended by Farrakhan in Libya – in violation of a travel ban imposed on Americans by President Reagan after Libya was linked to terrorist attacks in Europe – offered training seminars on weapons and explosives."[75] The Libyans paid $250,000 in travel and other expenses to stage a pro-Gaddafi demonstration in which NOI played a leading role.[76] In 1994, the NOI leader visited Khartoum, where he met with General Omar Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir, the Sudanese head of state and Doctor Hassan Abdullah al-Turabi, who headed Sudan's ruling party. Farrakhan's National Assistant Khalid Abdul Muhammed attended the 1995 PAIC meeting. Upon meeting Sheikh Naim Qassem of Hezbollah after a news conference at a Khartoum hotel, Muhammed found a translator to convey his greetings.[citation needed] In 1996, Farrakhan traveled to Iran, Iraq, and Libya, at which time Gaddafi offered him an additional $1 billion. Farrakhan said he would use the money to develop the black community and increase its power in politics. He also denied an earlier report, which originated in the Iranian press, that while in Iran he had said, "God will destroy America by the hands of Muslims. God will not give Japan or Europe the honor of bringing down the United States; this is an honor God will bestow upon Muslims."[77][78] In August 1996, Farrakhan formally asked the U.S. government to allow him to accept the funds from Libya, a requirement because of sanctions against the African state. His application was denied.[79][80][81] In 2011, shortly after Gaddafi's death, Farrakhan portrayed Gaddafi as a fellow revolutionary who had lent millions of dollars to the Nation of Islam over the years, "It wasn't the money, but the principles that made me his brother".[82][83] Press and media Videos The NOI has produced a number of videos promoting anti-American sentiments. NOI video titles include "Conspiracy of the International Bankers", "Conspiracy of the U.S. Government", "Controversy with Jews", and "Which One Will You Choose, the Flag of Islam or the Flag of America?" In one video Farrakhan is said to state, "I hasten to tell you that the precious lives that were lost in the World Trade Center was a cover, a cover for a war that had been planned to bring a pipeline through Afghanistan to bring oil from that region, oil owned by Unocal, of which Dick Cheney is a stock holder."[84] Farrakhan's videos also address the U.S. military. During the Millions March in Harlem, Farrakhan discussed the Fort Hood shootings as he addressed the crowd. You don't join the armed forces to become nation builders. You join the armed forces and they train you to kill. They're killers. So why did Army major Nidal Malik Hassan, a Muslim psychologist at Fort Hood go on a shooting spree after being assigned to debrief soldiers who came back from the theater of war. He couldn't take it any more so he shot up the soldiers. They want you to think he was a terrorist. But he was debriefing terrorists. And unfortunately, it took his balance.[85] Controversy over the availability of NOI videos and writings surfaced on June 15, 2011, when Representative Peter King, Chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security hosted a hearing titled "The Threat of Muslim-American Radicalization in U.S. Prisons". During the hearing, former Bureau of Prisons director Harley Lappin testified on the extreme susceptibility of radicalization of inmates through propaganda efforts of groups like NOI. Testimony included discussion of an incident in which two radicalized converts planned a terrorist attack on a military facility in Seattle. The suspects had met in prison and had converted to Islam while there. In July 2011, King and Representative Frank Wolf, worried that prisoners were being radicalized by Farrakhan, asked U.S. Bureau of Prisons Acting Director Thomas Kane to remove Nation of Islam material from prisons and to audit all other Islamic texts and sermons made available to inmates as well as bureau procedures for approving such materials.[84] The Final Call The Final Call is a newspaper published by NOI in Chicago, with news stories on a variety of topics, primarily related to Blacks in America. "The Muslim Program" is published in every issue of the newspaper stating the demands of the Nation of Islam. NOI journalists have written about a range of topics, including conspiracy theories on the assassination of John F. Kennedy and a Central Intelligence Agency conspiracy to disrupt rule in Libya.[86] Harold Muhammad, minister of an NOI New Orleans mosque, wrote in the paper that there is enough evidence that AIDS is a man-made disease being used by the U.S. government against Blacks.[87][unreliable source?] Noted current and former members This section may contain indiscriminate, excessive, or irrelevant examples. Please improve the article by adding more descriptive text and removing less pertinent examples. See Wikipedia's guide to writing better articles for further suggestions. (June 2016) This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) Khalid Abdul Muhammad Khadijah Farrakhan Muhammad Ali – converted to Sunni Islam in 1975 and became a Sufi in 2005[88] Mustapha Farrakhan, Jr. – professional basketball player Wesley Muhammad – professor and historian Clarence 13X – later formed the Nation of Gods and Earths Jay Electronica – hip-hop artist and record producer MC Ren – later converted to Sunni Islam[89] Kam – member of the Nation of Islam, rapper and former associate of Ice Cube John Allen Muhammad – Gulf war veteran, former NOI member, perpetrator of the Beltway Sniper attacks[90] Benjamin Chavis, former executive director of the NAACP John Collins-Muhammad, U.S. Politician in Saint Louis, MO[91] Paris – now an agnostic Snoop Dogg[92] – later converted to Rastafari. Quanell X – member c. 1990s – 2001, now a member of the New Black Panther Party David Muhammad – national leader for Trinidad and Tobago Humza Al-Hafeez – founder of the National Society of Afro-American Policemen, author, American social activist Shahrazad Ali – author Tony King Salim Muwakkil – newspaper columnist who left the NOI during the late 1970s Talmadge Hayer – Former NOI member, one of those convicted for the killing of Malcolm X few hours after the Messenger of Allah died, scores of his ministers hurried to his domed mosque on Stony Island Avenue to learn the fate of their nation. The future was waiting in the basement.The ministers filed down the stairs, hearts heavy, souls shaken. Up until Elijah Muhammad's last breath at 8:10 a.m. on Feb. 25, 1975, many believed The Messenger would live forever. They could not imagine he would leave them behind in the wilderness of North America to face the blue-eyed devil alone. For more than 40 years, he had lifted them from the gutter, plucked them out of the fire, resurrected them from the mentally dead. He did it using a theology of love and hate, sincerity and science fiction. The white man was the Devil, the black man a human God. He preached a separatist gospel of self-reliance. And he turned thousands of his brothers and sisters--the so-called Negroes, a phrase he used only with disdain--into proud black men and women. They thought he was divine. He didn't argue. Now that he was dead of heart failure at age 77, what would become of his people? Their Nation of Islam? Gathered in the depths of the mosque on the South Side of Chicago, they soon learned the answer. The Messenger's 41-year-old son, his successor, held up a Holy Koran. "We have to take this down from the shelf," declared Wallace D. Muhammad, staring into 200 somber faces. "We say we are Muslims. What my father taught that is in this book, we will keep. What is not in this book, we have to give up." So much had to go: There would be no more lessons about white devils or hovering spaceships ready to destroy America for its racial sins. There would be no more prohibitions against going to the movies or demands for a separate black nation in the American South. It was nothing less than a religious reformation that Wallace Muhammad began that bitter winter 27 years ago. He and his followers took the first steps in a mass march of tens of thousands of African-Americans away from the cult-like margins of a fierce faith to the mainstream of one of the world's great religions. Wallace Muhammad later started using the name Warith Deen Mohammed as he and his community waded deeper into Islam. To Mohammed, his father's Nation had been more concerned with property than prayers. It was more social movement than religion, more small-business incubator than house of worship. "My father was a great social reformer," Mohammed now says. "But when I came in, all I cared about was the soul." Today, there are 6 million to 8 million Muslims in the United States, and nearly 30 percent of them are African-American. The vast majority sit solidly in the Islamic mainstream, pledging allegiance to Allah and America, balancing Islamic piety and Western values. America isn't the Great Satan. It is home. To get his community to this point, Mohammed, the conflicted prince of the Nation of Islam's "Royal Family," turned his back on his father's kingdom. He tore it down myth by myth, replacing it with something new and, he is confident, truer to the faith. A year after taking over, he renamed the group the World Community of Al-Islam in the West, consigning the 45-year-old Nation of Islam to history--or so he thought. Several disaffected Nation officials, including Minister Louis Farrakhan, refused to give up the old ways. They broke away, taking some of Elijah Muhammad's followers with them. New but significantly smaller Nations of Islam soon began popping up in Detroit, Atlanta and most famously in Chicago under Farrakhan. Most of The Messenger's followers, however, stayed with the son and his Koran-based message. Mohammed thus "was able to do two remarkable things," says Sulayman S. Nyang, a professor of African Studies at Howard University. "One [was] the re-Islamization of the movement; the second, the re-Americanization of the movement. Here's a man who inherited an organization that most scholars of Islam would describe as heretical before [Mohammed took over]," Nyang says. "That mythology has been replaced by sound theology rooted in Islamic orthodoxy. The people had to make a 180-degree turn." Yvonne Haddad, an Islamic expert at Georgetown University, agrees that Mohammed shepherded a remarkable transformation in his followers' religious life. While his father shunned patriotism and cursed America for its crimes against the "black man," Haddad says Mohammed proudly waves the flag. "He still knows there is much about America that is racist," she says. "But he's working with it to change it. He is extremely important in making Muslims look at themselves as Americans and emphasizing their American identity." Yet his own identity is not well known. His is the face of Islam we seldom see, the personal story we seldom hear. It is the face of a bearded and balding father of 9 and grandfather of 10 who has been married four times, loves to cook and putter around his modest south suburban home--and professes a surprising admiration for the music of Prince, the sexually charged rocker. "He's cleaned up his act," he says. "Now I don't have to go sneak to see him." Mohammed currently calls his group the Muslim American Society, its third name since the death of the old Nation of Islam. With nearly 200,000 active followers, he is the chief imam, or spiritual leader, for the largest community of African-American Muslims in the United States. Some scholars say the number is closer to 1 million when all the group's supporters are counted. Under Mohammed's leadership, the community became increasingly active outside its mosques, launching and supporting new businesses, becoming more politically involved and reaching out to Christians and Jews for interfaith dialogue. "We were really making progress," he says, sighing deeply. "We were on the move." Then terror came roaring out of the September sky. Mohammed says the true picture of Islam has been buried in the debris of the Sept. 11 attacks. The image of his religion, he says, was hijacked by a band of extremists; a group of desperate, depraved men whom he insists are no more representative of Islam than Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh was of white Christian Americans. Still, he says, "We have not been doing our job of presenting Islam correctly. The whole world is looking at the Muslims, wondering who we are. We shouldn't have waited for this terrible thing to happen to show them." His followers call W.Deen Mohammed "Brother Imam." They also call him late--a lot. One even suggested that the initials W.D. stand for "Way Delayed." Of course, he often has 50 people demanding his attention every day. Plus, he's a 68-year-old man with a 12-year-old son. Time has a way of getting away from him. So none of his followers was surprised recently when there was no sign of Brother Imam 30 minutes after he was scheduled to deliver the khutbah, or sermon, for the Friday afternoon congregational prayer. The mosque on 71st Street was overflowing. One family drove all the way from Michigan to hear him. Mohammed doesn't have a mosque of his own and travels around the city and country as a guest speaker. The mosque is a converted nursery school. But inside it looks like a shoe store as the faithful come in, slip out of their shoes and line them up against the wall before finding a spot on the rug. There are chairs set up in the back for the old and infirm. Outside, vendors were setting up their tables. Wherever Brother Imam goes, vendors follow a la a Grateful Dead tour. They sell sandwiches, tapes of his past khutbahs, copies of the community's newspaper, the Muslim Journal, and bean pies. "Assalamu alaikum [Peace be upon you]" one vendor said to another as he set up his table under a tree. "Man, where have you been? I haven't seen you in a month of Sundays." "Wa' alaikumus salam [And upon you is the peace]," the other responded, throwing his arms around his friend. "I've just been working hard, trying to get into Paradise." Inside the mosque, someone said excitedly "Here he comes," and the men sitting on the floor in the middle and front of the room edged closer to the rostrum, so the men in the back could squeeze onto the rug. The women and girls were in the next room. A thin, elderly man with a white beard entered, and people strained to get a glimpse. False alarm. It was Mohammed's 68-year-old volunteer driver, Yusuf Abdullah, a former Baptist church deacon. Mohammed does not travel with bodyguards or an entourage of aides. He either drives himself or Abdullah climbs behind the wheel of his Chevy. Mohammed came next, slipping out of his shoes and bestowing a sweet smile on his patient congregation. "Assalamu alaikum," he said to the faithful. "Wa' alaikumus salam," they responded. In his sermon, he said that Allah invented the heavens and the stars and the moonlight. He invented weather: the wind, the rain, the snow. The believers should study Allah's creation and become scientists and scholars and use their knowledge to help their communities learn and prosper. Always give back, always reach out, he added. No one should go to school just to become rich for themselves. They must help the poor. They must help the world. They must, he said, try to follow the example of "the Prophet Mohammed, peace be upon him." "That's right," someone shouted. "Teach." "Allahu akbar [God is great]," someone said, and several other voices joined in. Brother Imam beamed. It has been a long and sometimes dangerous journey for Mohammed, who turns 69 at the end of October. His followers call the period when he took over the Nation "The Change" or "The Transition." It could have been The End. Ten years, almost to the day, before his ascension, Mohammed's friend and religious confidant, Malcolm X, was gunned down in New York City. Malcolm, too, had tried to bring orthodoxy and other reforms to the Nation of Islam. Even before Mohammed took over, there were several outbreaks of violence across the Nation of Islam, including a deadly shootout with police in Baton Rouge and an assassination and two beheadings in Newark, N.J. In some cases, the violence was criminally motivated, in others ideological disputes seemed to be the cause. Mohammed "took a major risk in leading the Nation" to mainstream Islam, says Lawrence H. Mamiya, a professor of religion at Vassar College. "There were many threats on his life. There were many splits in his movement." Farrakhan is responsible for the most famous fissure. He broke away in late 1977 to form his own Nation of Islam--heavy on charismatic leadership, light on the Koran. Just like the old days. Farrakhan declined to be interviewed for this article, but Mohammed recalls that, before he left, Farrakhan came to him "with a heavy heart." Farrakhan told him, Mohammed says, that he had disgraced his father and chased away the Nation's young members. Elijah Muhammad's Nation had worked miracles, Farrakhan argued. It had pulled up the lowest of the low--the addict and the pusher, the criminal and the just too tired to go on. It had reached into the prisons and the worst of the ghetto and transformed despair into dignity, pain into pride. There was no reason to change--not yet, maybe not ever. Mohammed, who recognized Farrakhan's talents and popularity, pleaded with him to stay. But the men could not come to terms, and ultimately Farrakhan was asked to go in peace. Mohammed says he was firm in his position: The old Nation had its day, now it was done. It was plagued with thieves at the top and the misguided at the bottom. It was time to worship God, not myths. It was time to grow up. And so these two sons of Elijah-- Farrakhan, his ideological son, and Mohammed, his flesh and blood who succeeded him--went their separate ways. Tensions were high in the weeks after the split. "Hints of Violence in a Growing Feud," declared the headline over Vernon Jarrett's Chicago Tribune column on Jan. 20, 1978. But five days later, another Jarrett column was headlined "A War of Words, but no Violence." Over the years, the fiery and flamboyant Farrakhan easily overshadowed Mohammed in the media, though his following remained much smaller. Farrakhan was the charmer, Mohammed the plodder. Farrakhan was outrageous. Mohammed was invisible. "He's a great man but nobody knows it," says his sometimes frustrated son-in-law, Najee Ali, a political and social activist who converted to Islam while in prison for robbery 10 years ago after listening to a tape of Mohammed. "We need to be doing more out in the streets. We need to be more involved in people's daily struggles." Mohammed's low profile is partly his own doing. Perhaps "turned off by the leadership of his father," says historian Claude Andrew Clegg III, Mohammed seemed purposely to fade into the background, taking his community with him on a years-long retreat into religion. Agieb Bilal, a Muslim since 1969, said that in a lecture to the faithful shortly after taking over, Mohammed "told us he was planting a new seed, and we would be going out of sight for awhile until it was time for the new growth to emerge." In the early days of The Change, Mohammed was relentless in pursuit of his mission, focused to the point of obsession. "One day, Uncle Wallace started teaching at 5 p.m. We didn't leave until 2 a.m.," recalls his nephew, Wali Muhammad, a Chicago radio talk-show host. "He was trying to overcome almost 45 years of [his father's] teaching. When he came in talking the Koran, it was like he was talking a different religion. He really upset the apple cart. He made a lot of people mad." Some simply lost interest. "I got bored and left," says Zakiyyah Muhammad, 56, a neighborhood activist and resident of the Near South Side. She had joined the Nation of Islam in 1973, and stayed through The Change. By the early '80s, she reluctantly decided it was time to leave. The community, she says, was "dead, dead, dead." "They weren't doing anything. Praying five times a day and reading the Koran wasn't enough. I wanted to be involved in making life better for black people." She considered joining Farrakhan, but finally dismissed the idea. "There were some things about Farrakhan's Nation of Islam I liked," she says. "But after learning true Islam, I could not embrace them again. I could never go back." What she and many others wanted most was a mosque that combined both politics and prayer, the kind of place Malcolm X envisioned. But he is long dead, and Zakiyyah Muhammad is still searching. Munir Muhammad also could not abide The Change. He joined the Nation of Islam in 1973 and left not long after Wallace Muhammad took power. He later founded a group called the Coalition for the Remembrance of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. "I saw in this man a strength I had not seen prior to or since in any human being," he says. "There are people who say [Muhammad] is still alive. We are not those people. We say he lives in us." He says that while Elijah Muhammad was alive, there were several attempts to destroy the Nation over the years: hypocrites from within, traitors from without, the government. All failed. Then along came W. Deen. "We lost just about everything," Munir Muhammad says, referring not only to the Messenger's fiery spirit and vision but also the millions in property and businesses his son sold off to settle tax debts and probate court rulings. Farrakhan's group purchased the Stony Island mosque and Elijah Muhammad's Kenwood mansion. Many friendships also were lost, but some rifts are slowly being repaired. After nearly three decades apart, the two old rivals, Farrakhan and W. Deen. Mohammed, both near 70, are carefully making peace with their past after Farrakhan's brush with death a couple of years ago as he battled prostate cancer. The two talk of economic cooperation between their communities, and they speak at each other's conventions. Farrakhan attended the Muslim American Society's recent gathering in Chicago. "It's good to be home," he told 7,000 Muslims and guests at the UIC Pavilion on the last day of the convention in early September. When it was time for Mohammed to speak, Farrakhan sat behind him, smiling and nodding. "Go ahead, Brother Imam," he said. "Preach." Afterward, a middle-aged woman with tears in her eyes approached a security guard. "I just have to tell them how happy I am to see them together," she said. "I've been praying for this for so long. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad would be so proud." Mohammed talks a lot about his father these days, in glowing terms. The old man's picture is featured in some Muslim American Society literature and Mohammed often is introduced as the son of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. In the first months and years of The Change, however, he was much more critical, even harsh. He was trying, he says, to free himself and his people of what he calls the "old mind." Now they are free, he believes, and he can reclaim his father. He even claims that the Messenger knew his son would lead the Nation into the mainstream. In fact, he says, that's exactly where Elijah Muhammad wanted his movement to go. Some say that's wishful thinking, a son's sentimentality. "I suggest what he is doing is engaging in a bit of myth-making, reinventing the story to reach out to Louis Farrakhan's group," says Herbert Berg, an assistant professor of religion at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington, who writes on Islam. If so, it seems to be working. It is Farrakhan who appears to be walking the farthest across the dance floor in this cautious courtship. Farrakhan is the one who moves closer and closer to a philosophically constant Mohammed. In recent years, Farrakhan has toned down his angry race rhetoric and talked up the tenets of mainstream Islam, which preaches universal brotherhood. His followers take classes in orthodox Islam, and he is being tutored in Arabic. But the wall isn't down completely. "I don't see Louis Farrakhan ever disbanding the Nation of Islam," says Clegg, the historian and author of "An Original Man: The Life and Times of Elijah Muhammad." "In a sort of messy way, Farrakhan has been moving toward more orthodox Islam since the early '90s. But you won't see [Mohammed and Farrakhan] in the same organization, I don't think. It's still a very divided community." Indeed, in the literature his aides have been distributing at recent appearances, Mohammed chides Farrakhan and his followers for not keeping up with changing times: "Minister Louis Farrakhan is educated and very intelligent, therefore I don't excuse him. And I don't excuse many intelligent, educated African-Americans who follow him in the wrong teachings of Islam. That is because the world has changed, the discrimination laws have been abolished, and race relations have improved." Mohammed says he considers himself a "rational man" who thinks through every possible angle of an issue. But he admits with a big laugh, his eyes twinkling, "I've made some female choices that weren't rational." He has been married four times, twice to the same woman, his first wife. He has nine children, ranging in age from 12 to 42. Several of his children work for him, including NGina Muhammad-Ali, director of advertising at his community's newspaper, the Muslim Journal. A few years ago, he and NGina attended a Prince concert together. He greatly admires the rock star. "I've been following Prince since he was outrageously nasty," he says. "I was able to see past the nastiness. I saw him as a very intelligent man with a cause. He was in a spirit to lead people away from the grip of the world and free their minds." Mohammed also has a lifelong love of movies. He used to have to sneak to see movies when his father was alive, because movie-going was prohibited in the Nation of Islam. He once put on a fake mustache and sunglasses to slip unseen into a show. When he took over the Nation, he lifted the ban. For decades after it was founded in 1930 in Detroit, the Nation of Islam thrived and survived on rigid rules, discipline and blind loyalty. Conformity was a virtue, independence a sin. In the Nation, a Muslim man better have his suit pressed. His hair cut. His fingernails clean. His weekly quota of Muhammad Speaks newspapers sold. The Fruit of Islam, the Nation's security force, was watching. Wallace Muhammad was always different. Quirky. When he wore a suit, folks say, you'd remember, because it didn't happen often. He had other things on his mind. It was easy for Wallace to be different then. He was The Messenger's son, a prince of the "Royal Family." When the Royals came to a Nation gathering, the sea of believers would step aside to clear a path. But being Elijah Muhammad's son did not protect him from Elijah's wrath, especially when he questioned his father about the Nation's theology. Physically, The Messenger was a small man, frail and tormented by asthma. Yet he blew away challenges to his authority like a hurricane. The Nation was not a democracy. Over the years, Elijah Muhammad banished his son at least three times for heresy. Wallace never could accept the idea that God was a man who walked the Earth in the person of Master W.D. Fard Muhammad, the mysterious founder of the Nation of Islam. The man Wallace was named after. The believers called such banishment being "put out." For the devout, it was a harsh punishment: Friends wouldn't talk to you; your own blood would turn their backs if they saw you coming down the street. In the early 1960s, Wallace was put out for being too close to The Messenger's former acolyte, Malcolm X. Both were disillusioned by revelations that Elijah Muhammad had children outside his marriage. Both loved The Messenger, but questioned his message. Both wanted him to change. "I was influenced by my father all my life," Mohammed says, a trace of sadness in his voice. "And by Malcolm." The Nation sought to be self-contained, and it had almost everything a believer would ever need--grocery stores, restaurants, schools, clothing shops, cleaners, a bank, farms, a fleet of trucks, a jet, an army of men, office buildings, apartment houses and 80 temples around the country and overseas. "We were isolated and insulated," says Imam Darnell Karim, Mohammed's friend of more than 60 years. "We shut our ears to everything. We heard only one voice, the leader's." Then in the late 1940s, Elijah Muhammad invited in the outside world, hiring a Muslim from the Middle East to teach Arabic at the school. Wallace, still a teenager, began reading the Koran with fresh eyes and started seeing more and more discrepancies between the Koran's Islam and his father's. What he learned greatly disturbed him. "All my life I had been trying to understand what my father was teaching," he says. "When I decided it was not acceptable, I really started searching the Koran, looking for answers." Still, he tried to keep his doubts to himself. He wanted to be an obedient son. He went into the family business, becoming a student minister in the Nation of Islam, speaking publicly at the mosque for the first time at age 17 or 18. His friend Karim remembers him being so nervous that he gripped the rostrum like a life preserver as he spoke. Mohammed remembers speaking for only a few minutes. But he says his closing words shot through the Nation: "We give more attention to the Devil than to Allah." Mohammed quickly climbed the ranks of the Nation, from foot soldier in the Fruit of Islam to student minister to chief minister of the high-profile Temple #12 in Philadelphia in 1959. "He didn't teach like the other ministers," says his nephew, Wali Muhammad. "He talked much more about the spirit and the soul. He talked much more about the Koran." Two years later, on his 28th birthday in 1961, Mohammed was sent to federal prison in Minnesota for refusing induction into the United States military. Once again, he was being the obedient son: His father and many of his followers had been imprisoned during World War II for refusing induction. They considered themselves citizens of the Nation of Islam, not the United States. They would not defend a country that lynched their brothers and humiliated their sisters, segregated their families and told their children they were no good, a country that had turned its back on them and pretended they were invisible. In his 14 months in the Minnesota prison, he spent most of his days and nights studying the Koran. He became even more convinced that the Nation of Islam had to change its message. But he had no idea how. His father had all the power, befitting the Last Messenger of Allah. When the prison gates opened in 1963, Mohammed returned to the Nation, looking for allies. He found one in Malcolm X, who was becoming openly critical of Elijah Muhammad. In 1964, this association was what got Mohammed "put out" for the first time. His rejection of his father's basic teachings that Fard was God led to his banishment again in the late '60s and for the last time in the early '70s. On the outside of the Nation, wanting back in, Mohammed and his family were living in Chicago in the early 1970s. To make ends meet he drove a cab, worked as a welder and did whatever else he could find. When Mohammed was finally readmitted to the Nation in 1974, Elijah Muhammad had only six months left to live. Mohammed says his father gave him great support in his last days. "He told [his staff] I was free to preach. He wasn't holding me to their language any more." The Messenger died the day before Savior's Day, the annual celebration honoring W.D. Fard Muhammad. That year the 20,000 Muslims who filled the hall roared their approval when Wallace, with his family's backing, was proclaimed the supreme minister. According to family and Nation legend, Wallace had been preordained for this moment. The story goes that when Clara Muhammad was pregnant with her seventh child, God, in the person of Fard, told her husband Elijah that the child would be a boy, a special boy, whom they should name after him. The boy would help his father someday and do many great things. One Muslim says family legend wasn't the only reason Wallace was named the new leader. Many of the ministers who supported him did so "because they thought he was like King Tut, a fool they could control. He fooled them," the man says. "He fooled them all." Mohammed knew he had to move fast to assert his leadership once his father was gone. "I felt there could be trouble," he says, from potential rivals who might emerge "and maybe start preaching the old way. I also thought the people should have a change right away, while they were mourning my father's death. That would be the time they would be most serious and respectful." The changes came fast and furious. He had years of pent-up ideas and frustrations. He ordered the chairs ripped out of the mosque so worshipers could prostrate themselves in prayer on the floor like Muslims all over the world. He stepped from behind the rostrum to teach the congregation the proper way to pray. Bilal, the mosque secretary, remembers the "officials gritting their teeth when they bumped their heads on the floor." He disbanded the Fruit of Islam security force. When he was in exile in 1964, openly criticizing his father, he accused the FOI of stalking him and threatening him with harm. And he once described the FOI as a "punch-your-teeth-out" squad. He ended the policy of requiring male members to sell 300 copies of the Muhammad Speaks newspaper each week and buy any they did not sell. The circulation of the paper dropped. So did the revenue. "I could have kept the money coming in, just like my father," he says, "but I knew it was un-Islamic. Getting poor people to pay more than they can pay is against the religion. As a Muslim, you should be helping them." He decentralized the mosque structure, giving individual mosques across the country control of their own affairs. He said whites could join. Heads were spinning. He moved too fast, says Aminah McCloud, an Islamic expert at DePaul University. The people did not have a chance to soak in one change before another came hurling at them from the rostrum. "The people were being psychologically whipped to death." One of the first whites to join was Dorothy Fardan, a 35-year-old former Catholic with a doctorate in sociology. She walked into the mosque in Albany, N.Y., in the summer of 1975. Her musician husband, Donald Elijah Muhammad, was a longtime member of the Nation of Islam, and she had tried to join years before. The Messenger, however, had disapproved of interracial marriages, and certainly did not approve of devils in the mosque. "I felt no resentment towards the Honorable Elijah Muhammad," Fardan says. "I admired him. I felt he told the truth about the United States. I never personally felt I was a devil." Fardan, who now teaches at Bowie State University in Maryland, eventually drifted away with her husband from Mohammed's community, though she is still a Muslim "under the teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad." They were unhappy with The Change, although she thought Mohammed sincere and not lusting after power. One of the things Fardan objected to was Mohammed's embrace of patriotism in 1976. He walked across a stage carrying an American flag, saying it was time for Muslims to recognize and celebrate the U. S. as a great country. Today, he has American flag decals on his car and his hat. It wasn't easy selling patriotism to his followers in the beginning, he says. He argued that black people had fought and died in every American war. They had blazed trails across the West and designed cities in the East. They had contributed their blood and brains to building the country. "They bought the logic, if not the spirit," he says of his followers. He is not selling a love-it-or-leave-it brand of patriotism, he says, more of a love-it-and-make-it-better. He knows that race matters, that black boys and girls still have a higher hill to climb. And he is not happy about talk of a unilateral invasion of Iraq or about the treatment of Palestinians by Israel and its chief ally, the United States. "Muslims," he says, "get whipped on too much." After the 9-11 terrorist attacks, he notes, there was harassment of Muslims, including his 12-year-old son, the youngest of his nine children. "Even now," he says, "we have to be somewhat fearful." But he says the attacks also "woke everybody up" in his community to the need to be more involved in the larger society and its political life. "I think we have some of the best Americans around," he says. He particularly wants them to get busy in businesses. "Now that the soul is right," he says, "we have to finance the religion. Our imams have to depend on charity." But he does not want to repeat the mistakes of the Nation's past. He does not want the imams or their mosques controlling and operating the businesses, as was the case in the old days when temptation led to corrupt management. He wants a high wall between God and commerce. His plan is to find Muslim entrepreneurs and support them with loans and other assistance. His followers operate a meat-processing plant in Hazel Crest and an export/import business and other concerns across the country. Meanwhile, Mohammed fights the cult of personality every chance he gets. It bothers him that people still want to know if the imam approves even the smallest tasks before anything gets done "That's from the old school," he says ruefully in an interview. "My father had such control over the people. When he passed, a lot of people were numb, dead almost." He tells young Muslims at the annual convention not to put him on a pedestal. He insists he's a little guy, and he rattles off some of his I-don't-haves to prove it. "I don't have a PhD," he says. "I don't have a master's degree. I don't even have a BA. But I'm connected to something mighty great," he continues. "It makes me respectable, honorable in the company of kings, queens and presidents." What he has, he says, is the same thing the roomful of 250 teenagers share with a billion people around the globe. "That," he says, "is Islam. African-American topics African America History (timeline)[show] Culture[show] Religion[show] Political movements[show] Civic / economic groups[show] Sports[show] Ethnic subdivisions[show] Languages[show] Diaspora[show] Lists[show] Category: African-American society AmericaAfrica.svg African American portal vte African-American art is a broad term describing the visual arts of the American black community (African Americans). Influenced by various cultural traditions, including those of Africa, Europe and the Americas, traditional African-American art forms include the range of plastic arts, from basket weaving, pottery, and quilting to woodcarving and painting. Contents 1 History 1.1 Pre-colonial, Antebellum and Civil War eras 1.2 Post-Civil War 1.3 The Harlem Renaissance to contemporary art 1.3.1 Mid-20th century 2 See also 3 References 4 Sources 5 External links History Pre-colonial, Antebellum and Civil War eras This is the carved powder horn by carver John Bush from around 1754. Harriet Powers, Bible quilt, Mixed Media. 1898. Prior to the 20th century, African-American art existed during the French and Indian War. John Bush was a powder horn carver and soldier with the Massachusetts militia fighting with the British. His work has toured throughout Canada and the US.[1][2] His powder horn of 1756 has been part of a travelling exhibition throughout Canada and US.[3][4] Art continued in subsequent slave communities, through the end of the 20th century, African-American art has made a vital contribution to the art of the United States.[5] During the period between the 17th century and the early 19th century art took the form of small drums, quilts, wrought-iron figures and ceramic vessels in the southern United States; these artifacts have similarities with comparable crafts in West and Central Africa. In contrast, black artisans like the New England–based engraver Scipio Moorhead and the Baltimore portrait painter Joshua Johnson created art that was conceived in a western European fashion for their local markets.[6] Many of Africa’s most skilled artisans were enslaved in the Americas, while others learned their trades or crafts as apprentices to African or white skilled workers. It was often the practice for slave owners to hire out skilled artisans. With the consent of their masters, some slave artisans also were able to keep a small percentage of the wages earned in their free time and thereby save enough money to purchase their, and their families', freedom.[7] G. W. Hobbs, Patrick H. Reason, Joshua Johnson, and Scipio Moorhead were among the earliest known portrait artists, from the period of 1773–1887. Patronage by some white families allowed for private tutorship in special cases. Many of these sponsoring whites were abolitionists. The artists received more encouragement and were better able to support themselves in cities, of which there were more in the North and border states. Harriet Powers (1837–1910) was an African-American folk artist and quilt maker from rural Georgia, United States, born into slavery. Now nationally recognized for her quilts, she used traditional appliqué techniques to record local legends, Bible stories, and astronomical events on her quilts. Only two of her late quilts have survived: Bible Quilt 1886 and Bible Quilt 1898. Her quilts are considered among the finest examples of 19th-century Southern quilting,.[8][9] Like Powers, the women of Gee's Bend developed a distinctive, bold, and sophisticated quilting style based on traditional American (and African-American) quilts, but with a geometric simplicity. Although widely separated by geography, they have qualities reminiscent of Amish quilts and modern art. The women of Gee's Bend passed their skills and aesthetic down through at least six generations to the present.[10] At one time scholars believed slaves sometimes utilized quilt blocks to alert other slaves about escape plans during the time of the Underground Railroad,[11] but most historians do not agree. Quilting remains alive as form of artistic expression in the African-American community. Post-Civil War After the Civil War, it became increasingly acceptable for African American-created works to be exhibited in museums, and artists increasingly produced works for this purpose. These were works mostly in the European romantic and classical traditions of landscapes and portraits. Edward Mitchell Bannister, Henry Ossawa Tanner and Edmonia Lewis are the most notable of this time. Others include Grafton Tyler Brown, Nelson A. Primus and Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller. The goal of widespread recognition across racial boundaries was first eased within America's big cities, including Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, New York, and New Orleans. Even in these places, however, there were discriminatory limitations. Abroad, however, African Americans were much better received. In Europe — especially Paris, France — these artists could express much more freedom in experimentation and education concerning techniques outside traditional western art. Freedom of expression was much more prevalent in Paris as well as Munich and Rome to a lesser extent. The Harlem Renaissance to contemporary art Sand Dunes at Sunset, Atlantic City by Henry Ossawa Tanner is in the collection of the White House, and hangs in the Green Room. Acquired during the Clinton administration with funds from the White House Acquisition Trust, it is the first artwork in the White House by an African American. The Harlem Renaissance was one of the most notable movements in African-American art. Certain freedoms and ideas that were already widespread in many parts of the world at the time had begun to spread into the artistic communities United States during the 1920s. During this period notable artists included Richmond Barthé, Aaron Douglas, Lawrence Harris, Palmer Hayden, William H. Johnson, Sargent Johnson, John T. Biggers, Earle Wilton Richardson, Malvin Gray Johnson, Archibald Motley, Augusta Savage, Hale Woodruff, and photographer James Van Der Zee. The establishment of the Harmon Foundation by art patron William E. Harmon in 1922 sponsored many artists through its Harmon Award and annual exhibitions. As it did with many such endeavors, the 1929 Great Depression largely ended funding for the arts for a time. While the Harmon Foundation still existed in this period, its financial support toward artists ended. The Harmon Foundation, however, continued supporting artists until 1967 by mounting exhibitions and offering funding for developing artists such as Jacob Lawrence.[12] Midnight Golfer by Eugene J. Martin, mixed media collage on rag paper. Kara Walker, Cut, Cut paper and adhesive on wall, Brent Sikkema NYC. The US Treasury Department's Public Works of Art Project ineffectively attempted to provide support for artists in 1933. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The WPA provided for all American artists and proved especially helpful to African-American artists. Artists and writers both gained work that helped them survive the Depression. Among them were Jacob Lawrence and Richard Wright. Politics, human and social conditions all became the subjects of accepted art forms. Important cities with significant black populations and important African-American art circles included Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. The WPA led to a new wave of important black art professors. Mixed media, abstract art, cubism, and social realism became not only acceptable, but desirable. Artists of the WPA united to form the 1935 Harlem Artists Guild, which developed community art facilities in major cities. Leading forms of art included drawing, sculpture, printmaking, painting, pottery, quilting, weaving and photography. By 1939, the costly WPA and its projects all were terminated. In 1943, James A. Porter, a professor in the Department of Art at Howard University, wrote the first major text on African-American art and artists, Modern Negro Art. Mid-20th century In the 1950s and 1960s, few African-American artists were widely known or accepted. Despite this, The Highwaymen, a loose association of 26 African-American artists from Fort Pierce, Florida, created idyllic, quickly realized images of the Florida landscape and peddled some 200,000 of them from the trunks of their cars. In the 1950s and 1960s, it was impossible to find galleries interested in selling artworks by a group of unknown, self-taught African Americans,[13] so they sold their art directly to the public rather than through galleries and art agents. Rediscovered in the mid-1990s, today they are recognized as an important part of American folk history.[14][15] The current market price for an original Highwaymen painting can easily bring in thousands of dollars. In 2004 the original group of 26 Highwaymen were inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame.[16] Currently 8 of the 26 are deceased, including A. Hair, H. Newton, Ellis and George Buckner, A. Moran, L. Roberts, Hezekiah Baker and most recently Johnny Daniels. The full list of 26 can be found in the Florida Artists Hall of Fame, as well as various highwaymen and Florida art websites. Jerry Harris, Dogon mother and child, constructed and carved wood with found objects, laminated clay (Bondo), and wooden dowels. After the Second World War, some artists took a global approach, working and exhibiting abroad, in Paris, and as the decade wore on, relocated gradually in other welcoming cities such as Copenhagen, Amsterdam, and Stockholm: Barbara Chase-Riboud, Edward Clark, Harvey Cropper, Beauford Delaney, Herbert Gentry,[17] Bill Hutson, Clifford Jackson,[18] Sam Middleton,[19] Larry Potter, Haywood Bill Rivers, Merton Simpson, and Walter Williams.[20][21] Some African-American artists did make it into important New York galleries by the 1950s and 1960s: Horace Pippin, Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence, William T. Williams, Norman Lewis, Thomas Sills,[22] and Sam Gilliam were among the few who had successfully been received in a gallery setting. The Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and 1970s led artists to capture and express the times and changes. Galleries and community art centers developed for the purpose of displaying African-American art, and collegiate teaching positions were created by and for African-American artists. Some African-American women were also active in the feminist art movement in the 1970s. Faith Ringgold made work that featured black female subjects and that addressed the conjunction of racism and sexism in the U.S., while the collective Where We At (WWA) held exhibitions exclusively featuring the artwork of African-American women.[23] By the 1980s and 1990s, hip-hop graffiti became predominate in urban communities. Most major cities had developed museums devoted to African-American artists. The National Endowment for the Arts provided increasing support for these artists. Important collections of African-American art include the Walter O. Evans Collection of African American Art, the Paul R. Jones collections at the University of Delaware and University of Alabama, the David C. Driskell Art collection, the Harmon and Harriet Kelley Collection of African American Art, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, and the Mott-Warsh collection. Kara Walker, a contemporary American artist, is known for her exploration of race, gender, sexuality, violence and identity in her artworks. Walker's silhouette images work to bridge unfinished folklore in the Antebellum South and are reminiscent of the earlier work of Harriet Powers. Her nightmarish yet fantastical images incorporate a cinematic feel. In 2007, Walker was listed among Time Magazine's "100 Most Influential People in The World, Artists and Entertainers".[24] Textile artists are part of African-American art history. According to the 2010 Quilting in America industry survey, there are 1.6 million quilters in the United States.[25] Influential contemporary artists include Larry D. Alexander, Laylah Ali, Amalia Amaki, Emma Amos, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Dawoud Bey, Camille Billops, Mark Bradford, Edward Clark, Willie Cole, Robert Colescott, Louis Delsarte, David C. Driskell, Leonardo Drew, Mel Edwards, Ricardo Francis, Charles Gaines, Ellen Gallagher, Herbert Gentry, Sam Gilliam, David Hammons, Jerry Harris, Joseph Holston, Richard Hunt, Martha Jackson-Jarvis, Katie S. Mallory, M. Scott Johnson, Rashid Johnson, Joe Lewis, Glenn Ligon, James Little, Edward L. Loper, Sr., Alvin D. Loving, Kerry James Marshall, Eugene J. Martin, Richard Mayhew, Sam Middleton, Howard McCalebb, Charles McGill, Thaddeus Mosley, Sana Musasama, Senga Nengudi, Joe Overstreet, Martin Puryear, Adrian Piper, Howardena Pindell, Faith Ringgold, Gale Fulton Ross, Alison Saar, Betye Saar, John Solomon Sandridge, Raymond Saunders, John T. Scott, Joyce Scott, Gary Simmons, Lorna Simpson, Renee Stout, Kara Walker, Carrie Mae Weems, Stanley Whitney, William T. Williams, Jack Whitten, Fred Wilson, Richard Wyatt, Jr., Richard Yarde, and Purvis Young, Kehinde Wiley, Mickalene Thomas, Barkley Hendricks, Jeff Sonhouse, William Walker, Ellsworth Ausby, Che Baraka, Emmett Wigglesworth, Otto Neals, Dindga McCannon, Terry Dixon (artist), Frederick J. Brown, and many others. Artists Scipio Moorhead, Portrait of poet Phillis Wheatley, 1773, in the frontispiece to her book Poems on Various Subjects Edward Mitchell Bannister, Driving Home the Cows 1881 Harriet Powers, Bible quilt, mixed media, 1886 Henry Ossawa Tanner, Gateway, Tangier, 1912, oil on canvas, 18 7/16" × 15 5/16", St. Louis Art Museum Charles Alston, Again The Springboard Of Civilization, 1943 (WWII African American soldier) Larry D. Alexander,Greenville Courthouse, 1998 A–B Terry Adkins (1953–2014), artist[1] Mequitta Ahuja (born 1976), painter, installation artist Larry D. Alexander (born 1953), painter Laylah Ali (born 1968), painter Jules T. Allen (born 1947), photographer Tina Allen (1949–2008), sculptor Charles Alston (1907–1977), painter[2][1] Amalia Amaki (born 1959), artist Emma Amos (born 1938), painter[2] Benny Andrews (1930–2006), painter[2][1] Edgar Arceneaux (born 1972), drawing artist Radcliffe Bailey (born 1968) collage, sculpture[3][4] Kyle Baker (born 1965), cartoonist Matt Baker (1921–1959), comic book artist James Presley Ball (1825–1904), photographer Alvin Baltrop (1948-2004), photographer Henry Bannarn (1910–1965), painter[1] Edward Mitchell Bannister (1828–1901), painter[2][1] Ernie Barnes (1938–2009), neo-Mannerist artist[2] Richmond Barthé (1901–1989), sculptor[2][1] Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960–1988), painter[2] C. M. Battey (1873–1927), photographer Romare Bearden (1911–1988), painter[2][1] Arthello Beck (1941–2004), painter Arthur P. Bedou (1882–1966), photographer Darrin Bell (born 1975), cartoonist Mary A. Bell (1873–1941) Dawoud Bey (born 1953), photographer[2] John T. Biggers (1924–2001), muralist[2][1] Sanford Biggers (born 1970), interdisciplinary Gene Bilbrew (1923–1974), cartoonist and fetish artist McArthur Binion (born 1946), painter Robert Blackburn (1920–2003), printmaker[2][1] Thomas Blackshear Betty Blayton (born 1937), painter, printmaker[1] Chakaia Booker (born 1953), sculptor[2] Edythe Boone (born 1938), muralist Charles Boyce (born 1949), cartoonist Tina Williams Brewer, fiber artist[5] Michael Bramwell (born 1953), conceptual artist Mark Bradford (born 1961) Elenora "Rukiya" Brown, doll creator Frank J. Brown (born 1956), sculptor Frederick J. Brown (1945–2012), painter[2] Larry Poncho Brown Manuelita Brown, sculptor Robert Brown (c. 1936–2007), cartoonist Beverly Buchanan (born 1940), painter, sculptor[1] Selma Burke (1900–1995), sculptor[1] Calvin Burnett (1921–2007), book illustrator[1] Pauline Powell Burns (1872–1912), painter John Bush (? - 1754), powder horn carver Robert Butler (1943–2014), painter C–D Frank Calloway (born 1915) E. Simms Campbell (1906–1971), cartoonist[1] Fred Carter (born 1938), cartoonist Bernie Casey (born 1939), painter[1] Elizabeth Catlett (1915–2012), sculptor and printmaker[2][1] Nick Cave (born 1959), performance artist Michael Ray Charles (born 1967), painter[2] Barbara Chase-Riboud (born 1936), sculptor[1] Jamour Chames (born 1989), painter Don Hogan Charles (1938–2017), photographer Claude Clark (1915–2001), painter and printmaker[2] Edward Clark (born 1926), painter Sonya Clark (born 1967), textile and multimedia artist Willie Cole (born 1955), painter[2] Robert Colescott (1925–2009), painter[2] Kennard Copeland (born 1966), ceramic sculptures [2] Eldzier Cortor (1916–2015), artist and printmaker[1] Ernest Crichlow (1914–2005), social realist artist[1] Allan Crite (1910–2007), painter[2] [1] Emilio Cruz (1938–2004), painter[2] Frank E. Cummings III (born 1938), woodworker Michael Cummings (born 1945), textile artist Ulysses Davis (1913–1990), sculptor[2] Bing Davis (born 1937), potter and graphic artist[1] Roy DeCarava (1919–2009), photographer[2] Beauford Delaney (1901–1979), painter[6] Joseph Delaney (1904–1991)[2] Louis Delsarte (born 1944), artist[1] J Rodney Dennis[7][8] painter Joseph Clinton Devillis (1878-1912), painter Thornton Dial (1928–2016)[2] Terry Dixon (born 1969), painter and multimedia artist Jeff Donaldson (born 1932), painter and critic Aaron Douglas (1899–1979), painter[2][1] Emory Douglas (born 1943), Black Panther artist John E. Dowell Jr. (born 1941), printmaker, etcher, lithographer, and painter David C. Driskell (born 1931), artist and scholar Robert Scott Duncanson (1821–1872), Hudson River School[2][1] E–H William Edmondson (1874–1951), folk art sculptor[2][1] Mel Edwards (born 1937), sculptor[2][1] Walter Ellison (1899–1977), painter[2] Minnie Evans (1892–1987), folk artist[2] [1] Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller (1877–1968), artist[2][1] Ellen Gallagher (born 1965)[2] Theaster Gates (born 1973), sculptor, ceramicist, and performance artist [ Reginald K (Kevin) Gee (born 1964), painter Herbert Gentry (1919–2003), painter Wilda Gerideau-Squires (born 1946), photographer Robert A. Gilbert (c. 1870-1942), nature photographer[9] Leah Gilliam (born 1967), media artist and filmmaker Sam Gilliam (born 1933), painter[2] [1] Russell T. Gordon (born 1936), printmaker[2] Billy Graham (1935–1999), comic book artist Lonnie Graham, photographer and installation artist Deborah Grant (born 1968), painter Todd Gray (born 1954), photographer, installation and performance artist Leamon Green (born 1959) Renee Green (born 1959), installation artist[2] Mario Gully, comic book artist Tyree Guyton (born 1955)[2] Ed Hamilton (born 1947), sculptor Patrick Earl Hammie (born 1981), painter David Hammons (born 1943), artist[2] Trenton Doyle Hancock (born 1974)[2] Edwin Harleston (1882–1931), painter Elise Forrest Harleston (1891–1970), photographer Kira Lynn Harris (born 1963), multidisciplinary[10] John Wesley Hardrick (1891–1948), painter[2] [1] Jerry Harris (born 1945), sculptor Lawrence Harris, painter Marren Hassenger (born 1947), sculptor, installation, performance[11] Palmer Hayden (1893–1973), painter[2][1] Barkley Hendricks (1945–2017), painter George Herriman (1880–1944), cartoonist[2] Alvin Hollingsworth (1928–2000), illustrator, painter William Howard (active 19th century), American woodworker and craftsman Bryce Hudson (born 1979), painter, sculptor[2] Julien Hudson (1811–1844), painter, sculptor[2] David Huffman (born 1963), painter[12] Richard Hunt (born 1935), sculptor[2][1] Clementine Hunter (1886/7–1988), folk artist[2][1] J–O Steffani Jemison (born 1981), performance artist, video artist Wadsworth Jarrell (born 1929), painter, sculptor Annette P. Jimerson (born 1966), painter Joshua Johnson (c.1763–c.1824), portrait painter and folk artist[2][1] Malvin Gray Johnson (1896–1934), painter[1] Rashid Johnson (born 1977), conceptual artist Sargent Johnson (1888–1967), sculptor[2] [1] William H. Johnson (1902–1970)[2][1] Calvin B. Jones (1934–2010), painter, muralist Jennie C. Jones (born 1968), multidisciplinary Lois Mailou Jones (1905–1998), painter[2][1] Titus Kaphar (born 1976), painter[13] Gwendolyn Knight (1914–2005), artist[1] Jacob Lawrence (1917–2000), painter[2][1] Deana Lawson (born 1979), photographer[14] Hughie Lee-Smith (1915–1999), artist[2][1] Edmonia Lewis (c. 1843–1879), artist[2][1] Norman Lewis (1909–1979), painter[2][1] Glenn Ligon (born 1960), painter[2] Llanakila, artist, painter, digital illustrator, and digital artist Edward L. Loper, Sr. (1916–2011), painter Whitfield Lovell (born 1960), artist Alvin D. Loving (1935-2005) artist Gwendolyn Ann Magee (1943–2011), artist, quilter[15] Clarence Major (born 1936), painter Kerry James Marshall (born 1955), painter[2] Eugene J. Martin (1938–2005), painter Richard Mayhew (born 1934), Afro-Native American, landscape painter[16] Valerie Maynard (born 1937), sculptor, printmaker, painter Ealy Mays (born 1959), painter Howard McCalebb (born 1947), artist Corky McCoy, illustrator Charles McGee, (born 1924) painter Charles McGill (born 1964), artist, educator Julie Mehretu (born 1970), painter, printmaker Nicole Miller (born 1982), video artist Dean Mitchell (born 1957), painter Scipio Moorhead (active 1770s), painter[1] Archibald Motley (1891–1981), painter[2][1] Gus Nall (1919-1995), painter Harold Newton (1934–1994), artist Lorraine O'Grady (born 1934), conceptual artist Turtel Onli (born 1952), cartoonist Jackie Ormes (1911–1985), cartoonist John Outterbridge (born 1933), assemblage artist[2][1] Joe Overstreet (born 1933), artist[1] P–S Gordon Parks (1912–2006), photographer, director[2][1] Cecelia Pedescleaux (born 1945), quilter Delilah Pierce (1904–1992), artist Earle M. Pilgrim (1923–1976), artist Howardena Pindell (born 1943), painter[2] Jerry Pinkney (born 1939), illustrator[2] Adrian Piper (born 1948), conceptual artist[2] Rose Piper (1917–2005), painter and textile designer[17] Horace Pippin (1888–1946), painter[2][1] Rae Pleasant (born 1985), illustrator[18][19] P. H. Polk (1898–1984), photographer Carl Robert Pope (born 1961), photographer[2] William Pope.L (born 1955) conceptual artist Harriet Powers (1837–1910), folk artist[2] Martin Puryear (born 1941), sculptor[2][1] Patrick H. Reason (1816–1898) Earle Wilton Richardson (1912–1935), artist[1] Faith Ringgold (born 1930), painter[2][1] Haywood Rivers (1922–2001), painter Arthur Rose Sr. (1921–1995), multidisciplinary Bayeté Ross Smith (born 1976), photographer Alison Saar (born 1956), artist[2][1] Betye Saar (born 1926), artist[2][1] Charles Sallee (1923–2006), painter[2][20] Reginald Sanders (1921–2001), visual artist Raymond Saunders, painter[1] Augusta Savage (1892–1962), sculptor[2][1] John T. Scott (1940–2007), artist Joyce J. Scott (born 1948), sculptor[2] Lorenzo Scott (born 1934), painter William Edouard Scott (1884–1964), painter[2][1] Charles Sebree (1914–1985), painter[2][1] Ed Sherman (born 1945), photographer Thomas Sills (1914–2000), painter Gary Simmons (born 1964), artist Lorna Simpson (born 1960), artist[2] Merton Simpson (1928–2013), painter William Simpson (1818–1872), portrait painter[1] Cauleen Smith (born 1967), filmmaker Leslie Smith III (born 1985), painter Vincent D. Smith (1929–2003), painter and printmaker[21][22] Gilda Snowden (1954–2014)[2] Mitchell Squire (born 1958), American installation artist, sculptor and performance artist Raymond Steth (1916–1997)[2] Renee Stout (born 1958), artist[2] Martine Syms (born 1988), artist T–Z Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859–1937), artist[2][1] Margaret Taylor-Burroughs (1915–2010)[2][1] Alma Thomas (1891–1978), painter[2] [1] Hank Willis Thomas (born 1976), photographer Mickalene Thomas (born 1971), painter and installation artist Bob Thompson (1937–1966), painter[2][1] Mildred Thompson (1935–2003), abstract painter, printmaker and sculptor Dox Thrash (1892–1962), printmaker, sculptor[2] [1] Bill Traylor (1856–1949)[2][1] Henry Taylor (born 1958) painter Morrie Turner (1923–2014), cartoonist James Van Der Zee (1886–1983), photographer[2] [1] Kara Walker (born 1969), artist[2] [1] William Walker (1927–2011), Chicago muralist Laura Wheeler Waring (1887–1948), painter[2][1] E. M. Washington (born 1962), printmaker and counterfeiter James W. Washington, Jr. (1908–2000), painter and sculptor[1] Carrie Mae Weems (born 1953), photographer[2] Pheoris West Charles Wilbert White (1918–1979), muralist[2][1] Jack Whitten (1939-2018), painter Kehinde Wiley (born 1977), painter Gerald Williams (artist) (Born 1941) painter William T. Williams (born 1942), painter[1] Deborah Willis (born 1948), photographer Ellis Wilson (1899–1977), painter[2][1] Fred Wilson (born 1954), conceptual artist John Woodrow Wilson (1922–2015), sculptor[2][1] Beulah Woodard (1895–1955), sculptor Hale Woodruff (1900–1980), painter[2][1] Richard Wyatt, Jr., (born 1955), painter, muralist Richard Yarde (1939–2011), watercolorist Joseph Yoakum (1890–1972), self-taught landscape artist Purvis Young (1943–2010), artist Artist groups The Highwaymen AfriCOBRA Where We At National Conference of Artists Spiral (arts alliance) African-American topics African America History (timeline)[show] Culture[show] Religion[show] Political movements[show] Civic / economic groups[show] Sports[show] Ethnic subdivisions[show] Languages[show] Diaspora[show] Lists[show] Category: African-American society AmericaAfrica.svg African American portal vte This article needs additional citations for verification. 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(June 2007) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) The Black Arts Movement, Black Aesthetics Movement or BAM is the artistic outgrowth of the Black Power movement that was prominent in the 1960s and early 1970s.[1][2][3] Time magazine describes the Black Arts Movement as the "single most controversial movement in the history of African-American literature – possibly in American literature as a whole."[4] The Black Arts Repertory Theatre/School (BARTS), founded in Harlem in 1965 by LeRoi Jones (later known as Amiri Baraka) is a key institution of the Black Arts Movement.[5] Contents 1 Overview 1.1 Influence 2 History 2.1 Authors 2.2 Locations 3 The Black Aesthetic 4 Major works 4.1 Black Art 4.2 "The Revolutionary Theatre" 5 Effects on society 6 Associated writers and thinkers 7 Related exhibitions and conferences 8 See also 9 References 10 External links Overview The movement has been seen as one of the most important times in African-American literature. It inspired black people to establish their own publishing houses, magazines, journals and art institutions. It led to the creation of African-American Studies programs within universities.[6] The movement was triggered by the assassination of Malcolm X.[7] Among the well-known writers who were involved with the movement are Nikki Giovanni, Sonia Sanchez, Maya Angelou, Hoyt W. Fuller, and Rosa Guy.[8][9] Although not strictly part of the Movement, other notable African-American writers such as novelists Toni Morrison and Ishmael Reed share some of its artistic and thematic concerns. Although Reed is neither a movement apologist nor advocate, he said: I think what Black Arts did was inspire a whole lot of Black people to write. Moreover, there would be no multiculturalism movement without Black Arts. Latinos, Asian Americans, and others all say they began writing as a result of the example of the 1960s. Blacks gave the example that you don't have to assimilate. You could do your own thing, get into your own background, your own history, your own tradition and your own culture. I think the challenge is for cultural sovereignty and Black Arts struck a blow for that.[10] BAM influenced the world of literature with the portrayal of different ethnic voices. Before the movement, the literary canon lacked diversity, and the ability to express ideas from the point of view of racial and ethnic minorities, which was not valued by the mainstream at the time. Influence Theatre groups, poetry performances, music and dance were centered on this movement, and therefore African Americans gained social and historical recognition in the area of literature and arts. Due to the agency and credibility given, African Americans were also able to educate others through different types of expressions and media outlets about cultural differences. The most common form of teaching was through poetry reading. African-American performances were used for their own political advertisement, organization, and community issues. The Black Arts Movement was spread by the use of newspaper advertisements.[11] The first major arts movement publication was in 1964. "No one was more competent in [the] combination of the experimental and the vernacular than Amiri Baraka, whose volume Black Magic Poetry 1961–1967 (1969) is one of the finest products of the African-American creative energies of the 1960s."[4] History The beginnings of the Black Arts Movement may be traced to 1965, when Amiri Baraka, at that time still known as Leroi Jones, moved uptown to establish the Black Arts Repertory Theatre/School (BARTS) following the assassination of Malcolm X.[4] Rooted in the Nation of Islam, the Black Power Movement and the Civil Rights Movement, the Black Arts Movement grew out of a changing political and cultural climate in which Black artists attempted to create politically engaged work that explored the African American cultural and historical experience.[4] Black artists and intellectuals such as Baraka made it their project to reject older political, cultural, and artistic traditions.[12] Although the success of sit-ins and public demonstrations of the Black student movement in the 1960s may have "inspired black intellectuals, artists, and political activists to form politicized cultural groups,"[12] many Black Arts activists rejected the non-militant integrational ideologies of the Civil Rights Movement and instead favored those of the Black Liberation Struggle, which emphasized "self-determination through self-reliance and Black control of significant businesses, organization, agencies, and institutions."[13] According to the Academy of American Poets, "African American artists within the movement sought to create politically engaged work that explored the African American cultural and historical experience." The importance that the movement placed on Black autonomy is apparent through the creation of institutions such as the Black Arts Repertoire Theatre School (BARTS), created in the spring of 1964 by Baraka and other Black artists. The opening of BARTS in New York City often overshadow the growth of other radical Black Arts groups and institutions all over the United States. In fact, transgressional and international networks, those of various Left and nationalist (and Left nationalist) groups and their supports, existed far before the movement gained popularity.[12] Although the creation of BARTS did indeed catalyze the spread of other Black Arts institutions and the Black Arts movement across the nation, it was not solely responsible for the growth of the movement. Although the Black Arts Movement was a time filled with black success and artistic progress, the movement also faced social and racial ridicule. The leaders and artists involved called for Black Art to define itself and speak for itself from the security of its own institutions. For many of the contemporaries the idea that somehow black people could express themselves through institutions of their own creation and with ideas whose validity was confirmed by their own interests and measures was absurd.[14] While it is easy to assume that the movement began solely in the Northeast, it actually started out as "separate and distinct local initiatives across a wide geographic area," eventually coming together to form the broader national movement.[12] New York City is often referred to as the "birthplace" of the Black Arts Movement, because it was home to many revolutionary Black artists and activists. However, the geographical diversity of the movement opposes the misconception that New York (and Harlem, especially) was the primary site of the movement.[12] In its beginning states, the movement came together largely through printed media. Journals such as Liberator, The Crusader, and Freedomways created "a national community in which ideology and aesthetics were debated and a wide range of approaches to African-American artistic style and subject displayed."[12] These publications tied communities outside of large Black Arts centers to the movement and gave the general black public access to these sometimes exclusive circles. As a literary movement, Black Arts had its roots in groups such as the Umbra Workshop. Umbra (1962) was a collective of young Black writers based in Manhattan's Lower East Side; major members were writers Steve Cannon,[15] Tom Dent, Al Haynes, David Henderson, Calvin C. Hernton, Joe Johnson, Norman Pritchard, Lennox Raphael, Ishmael Reed, Lorenzo Thomas, James Thompson, Askia M. Touré (Roland Snellings; also a visual artist), Brenda Walcott, and musician-writer Archie Shepp. Touré, a major shaper of "cultural nationalism," directly influenced Jones. Along with Umbra writer Charles Patterson and Charles's brother, William Patterson, Touré joined Jones, Steve Young, and others at BARTS. Umbra, which produced Umbra Magazine, was the first post-civil rights Black literary group to make an impact as radical in the sense of establishing their own voice distinct from, and sometimes at odds with, the prevailing white literary establishment. The attempt to merge a black-oriented activist thrust with a primarily artistic orientation produced a classic split in Umbra between those who wanted to be activists and those who thought of themselves as primarily writers, though to some extent all members shared both views. Black writers have always had to face the issue of whether their work was primarily political or aesthetic. Moreover, Umbra itself had evolved out of similar circumstances: in 1960 a Black nationalist literary organization, On Guard for Freedom, had been founded on the Lower East Side by Calvin Hicks. Its members included Nannie and Walter Bowe, Harold Cruse (who was then working on The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual, 1967), Tom Dent, Rosa Guy, Joe Johnson, LeRoi Jones, and Sarah E. Wright, among others. On Guard was active in a famous protest at the United Nations of the American-sponsored Bay of Pigs Cuban invasion and was active in support of the Congolese liberation leader Patrice Lumumba. From On Guard, Dent, Johnson, and Walcott along with Hernton, Henderson, and Touré established Umbra. Authors Another formation of black writers at that time was the Harlem Writers Guild, led by John O. Killens, which included Maya Angelou, Jean Carey Bond, Rosa Guy, and Sarah Wright among others. But the Harlem Writers Guild focused on prose, primarily fiction, which did not have the mass appeal of poetry performed in the dynamic vernacular of the time. Poems could be built around anthems, chants, and political slogans, and thereby used in organizing work, which was not generally the case with novels and short stories. Moreover, the poets could and did publish themselves, whereas greater resources were needed to publish fiction. That Umbra was primarily poetry- and performance-oriented established a significant and classic characteristic of the movement's aesthetics. When Umbra split up, some members, led by Askia Touré and Al Haynes, moved to Harlem in late 1964 and formed the nationalist-oriented Uptown Writers Movement, which included poets Yusef Rahman, Keorapetse "Willie" Kgositsile from South Africa, and Larry Neal. Accompanied by young "New Music" musicians, they performed poetry all over Harlem. Members of this group joined LeRoi Jones in founding BARTS. Jones's move to Harlem was short-lived. In December 1965 he returned to his home, Newark (N.J.), and left BARTS in serious disarray. BARTS failed but the Black Arts center concept was irrepressible, mainly because the Black Arts movement was so closely aligned with the then-burgeoning Black Power movement. The mid-to-late 1960s was a period of intense revolutionary ferment. Beginning in 1964, rebellions in Harlem and Rochester, New York, initiated four years of long hot summers. Watts, Detroit, Newark, Cleveland, and many other cities went up in flames, culminating in nationwide explosions of resentment and anger following Martin Luther King, Jr.'s April 1968 assassination. Nathan Hare, author of The Black Anglo-Saxons (1965), was the founder of 1960s Black Studies. Expelled from Howard University, Hare moved to San Francisco State University, where the battle to establish a Black Studies department was waged during a five-month strike during the 1968–69 school year. As with the establishment of Black Arts, which included a range of forces, there was broad activity in the Bay Area around Black Studies, including efforts led by poet and professor Sarah Webster Fabio at Merrit College. The initial thrust of Black Arts ideological development came from the Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM), a national organization with a strong presence in New York City. Both Touré and Neal were members of RAM. After RAM, the major ideological force shaping the Black Arts movement was the US (as opposed to "them") organization led by Maulana Karenga. Also ideologically important was Elijah Muhammad's Chicago-based Nation of Islam. These three formations provided both style and conceptual direction for Black Arts artists, including those who were not members of these or any other political organization. Although the Black Arts Movement is often considered a New York-based movement, two of its three major forces were located outside New York City. Locations As the movement matured, the two major locations of Black Arts' ideological leadership, particularly for literary work, were California's Bay Area because of the Journal of Black Poetry and The Black Scholar, and the Chicago–Detroit axis because of Negro Digest/Black World and Third World Press in Chicago, and Broadside Press and Naomi Long Madgett's Lotus Press in Detroit. The only major Black Arts literary publications to come out of New York were the short-lived (six issues between 1969 and 1972) Black Theatre magazine, published by the New Lafayette Theatre, and Black Dialogue, which had actually started in San Francisco (1964–68) and relocated to New York (1969–72). Although the journals and writing of the movement greatly characterized its success, the movement placed a great deal of importance on collective oral and performance art. Public collective performances drew a lot of attention to the movement, and it was often easier to get an immediate response from a collective poetry reading, short play, or street performance than it was from individual performances.[12] The people involved in the Black Arts Movement used the arts as a way to liberate themselves. The movement served as a catalyst for many different ideas and cultures to come alive. This was a chance for African Americans to express themselves in a way that most would not have expected. In 1967 LeRoi Jones visited Karenga in Los Angeles and became an advocate of Karenga's philosophy of Kawaida. Kawaida, which produced the "Nguzo Saba" (seven principles), Kwanzaa, and an emphasis on African names, was a multifaceted, categorized activist philosophy. Jones also met Bobby Seale and Eldridge Cleaver and worked with a number of the founding members of the Black Panthers. Additionally, Askia Touré was a visiting professor at San Francisco State and was to become a leading (and long-lasting) poet as well as, arguably, the most influential poet-professor in the Black Arts movement. Playwright Ed Bullins and poet Marvin X had established Black Arts West, and Dingane Joe Goncalves had founded the Journal of Black Poetry (1966). This grouping of Ed Bullins, Dingane Joe Goncalves, LeRoi Jones, Sonia Sanchez, Askia M. Touré, and Marvin X became a major nucleus of Black Arts leadership.[16] As the movement grew, ideological conflicts arose and eventually became too great for the movement to continue to exist as a large, coherent collective. The Black Aesthetic Many discussions of the Black Arts movement posit it as the "aesthetic and spiritual sister of the Black Power concept."[17] The Black Aesthetic refers to ideologies and perspectives of art that center on Black culture and life. This Black Aesthetic encouraged the idea of Black separatism, and in trying to facilitate this, hoped to further strengthen black ideals, solidarity, and creativity.[18] In his well-known essay on the Black Arts Movement, Larry Neal attests: "When we speak of a 'Black aesthetic' several things are meant. First, we assume that there is already in existence the basis for such an aesthetic. Essentially, it consists of an African-American cultural tradition. But this aesthetic is finally, by implication, broader than that tradition. It encompasses most of the usable elements of the Third World culture. The motive behind the Black aesthetic is the destruction of the white thing, the destruction of white ideas, and white ways of looking at the world."[17] Major works Black Art Amiri Baraka's poem "Black Art" serves as one of his most controversial, yet poetically profound supplements to the Black Arts Movement. In this piece, Baraka merges politics with art, criticizing poems that are not useful to or adequately representative of the Black struggle. First published in 1966, a period particularly known for the Civil Rights Movement, the political aspect of this piece underscores the need for a concrete and artistic approach to the realistic nature involving racism and injustice. Serving as the recognized artistic component to and having roots in the Civil Rights Movement, the Black Arts Movement aims to grant a political voice to black artists (including poets, dramatists, writers, musicians, etc.). Playing a vital role in this movement, Baraka calls out what he considers to be unproductive and assimilatory actions shown by political leaders during the Civil Rights Movement. He describes prominent Black leaders as being "on the steps of the white house...kneeling between the sheriff's thighs negotiating coolly for his people."[19] Baraka also presents issues of euro-centric mentality, by referring to Elizabeth Taylor as a prototypical model in a society that influences perceptions of beauty, emphasizing its influence on individuals of white and black ancestry.[19] Baraka aims his message toward the Black community, with the purpose of coalescing African Americans into a unified movement, devoid of white influences. "Black Art" serves as a medium for expression meant to strengthen that solidarity and creativity, in terms of the Black Aesthetic. Baraka believes poems should "shoot…come at you, love what you are" and not succumb to mainstream desires.[19] He ties this approach into the emergence of hip-hop, which he paints as a movement that presents "live words…and live flesh and coursing blood."[19] Baraka's cathartic structure and aggressive tone are comparable to the beginnings of hip-hop music, which created controversy in the realm of mainstream acceptance, because of its "authentic, un-distilled, unmediated forms of contemporary black urban music."[20] Baraka believes that integration inherently takes away from the legitimacy of having a Black identity and Aesthetic in an anti-Black world. Through pure and unapologetic blackness, and with the absence of white influences, Baraka believes a black world can be achieved. Though hip-hop has been serving as a recognized salient musical form of the Black Aesthetic, a history of unproductive integration is seen across the spectrum of music, beginning with the emergence of a newly formed narrative in mainstream appeal in the 1950s. Much of Baraka's cynical disillusionment with unproductive integration can be drawn from the 50s, a period of rock and roll, in which "record labels actively sought to have white artists "cover" songs that were popular on the rhythm-and-blues charts"[20] originally performed by African-American artists. The problematic nature of unproductive integration is also exemplified by Run-DMC, an American hip-hop group founded in 1981, who became widely accepted after a calculated collaboration with the rock group Aerosmith on a remake of the latter's "Walk This Way" took place in 1986, evidently appealing to young white audiences.[20] Hip-hop emerged as an evolving genre of music that continuously challenged mainstream acceptance, most notably with the development of rap in the 1990s. A significant and modern example of this is Ice Cube, a well-known American rapper, songwriter, and actor, who introduced subgenre of hip-hop known as "gangsta rap," merged social consciousness and political expression with music. With the 1960s serving as a more blatantly racist period of time, Baraka notes the revolutionary nature of hip-hop, grounded in the unmodified expression through art. This method of expression in music parallels significantly with Baraka's ideals presented in "Black Art," focusing on poetry that is also productively and politically driven. "The Revolutionary Theatre" "The Revolutionary Theatre" is a 1965 essay by Baraka that was an important contribution to the Black Arts Movement, discussing the need for change through literature and theater arts. He says: "We will scream and cry, murder, run through the streets in agony, if it means some soul will be moved, moved to actual life understanding of what the world is, and what it ought to be." Baraka wrote his poetry, drama, fiction and essays in a way that would shock and awaken audiences to the political concerns of black Americans, which says much about what he was doing with this essay.[21] It also did not seem coincidental to him that Malcolm X and John F. Kennedy had been assassinated within a few years, since Baraka believed that every voice of change in America had been murdered, which led to the writing that would come out of the Black Arts Movement. In his essay, Baraka says: "The Revolutionary Theatre is shaped by the world, and moves to reshape the world, using as its force the natural force and perpetual vibrations of the mind in the world. We are history and desire, what we are, and what any experience can make us." With his thought-provoking ideals and references to a euro-centric society, he imposes the notion that black Americans should stray from a white aesthetic in order to find a black identity. In his essay, he says: "The popular white man's theatre like the popular white man's novel shows tired white lives, and the problems of eating white sugar, or else it herds bigcaboosed blondes onto huge stages in rhinestones and makes believe they are dancing or singing." This, having much to do with a white aesthetic, further proves what was popular in society and even what society had as an example of what everyone should aspire to be, like the "bigcaboosed blondes" that went "onto huge stages in rhinestones". Furthermore, these blondes made believe they were "dancing and singing" which Baraka seems to be implying that white people dancing is not what dancing is supposed to be at all. These allusions bring forth the question of where black Americans fit in the public eye. Baraka says: "We are preaching virtue and feeling, and a natural sense of the self in the world. All men live in the world, and the world ought to be a place for them to live." Baraka's essay challenges the idea that there is no space in politics or in society for black Americans to make a difference through different art forms that consist of, but are not limited to, poetry, song, dance, and art. Effects on society According to the Academy of American Poets, "many writers--Native Americans, Latinos/as, gays and lesbians, and younger generations of African Americans have acknowledged their debt to the Black Arts Movement."[4] The movement lasted for about a decade, through the mid-1960s and into the 1970s. This was a period of controversy and change in the world of literature. One major change came through in the portrayal of new ethnic voices in the United States. English-language literature, prior to the Black Arts Movement, was dominated by white authors.[22] African Americans became a greater presence not only in the field of literature but in all areas of the arts. Theater groups, poetry performances, music and dance were central to the movement. Through different forms of media, African Americans were able to educate others about the expression of cultural differences and viewpoints. In particular, black poetry readings allowed African Americans to use vernacular dialogues. This was shown in the Harlem Writers Guild, which included black writers such as Maya Angelou and Rosa Guy. These performances were used to express political slogans and as a tool for organization. Theater performances also were used to convey community issues and organizations. The theaters, as well as cultural centers, were based throughout America and were used for community meetings, study groups and film screenings. Newspapers were a major tool in spreading the Black Arts Movement. In 1964, Black Dialogue was published, making it the first major Arts movement publication. The Black Arts Movement, although short, is essential to the history of the United States. It spurred political activism and use of speech throughout every African-American community. It allowed African Americans the chance to express their voices in the mass media as well as become involved in communities. It can be argued that "the Black Arts movement produced some of the most exciting poetry, drama, dance, music, visual art, and fiction of the post-World War II United States" and that many important "post-Black artists" such as Toni Morrison, Ntozake Shange, Alice Walker, and August Wilson were shaped by the movement.[12] The Black Arts Movement also provided incentives for public funding of the arts and increased public support of various arts initiatives.[12] Associated writers and thinkers Don Evans Mari Evans Sarah Webster Fabio Hoyt W. Fuller Nikki Giovanni Rosa Guy Harlem Writers Guild David Henderson Audre Lorde Dudley Randall Sonia Sanchez Related exhibitions and conferences The Arts Council of England's (ACE) Decibel initiative produced a summary in 2003 in association with The Guardian newspaper.[23][24] An international exhibition, Back to Black — Art, Cinema and the Racial Imaginary, was held at the Whitechapel Gallery in 2005.[25] A 2006 major conference Should Black Art Still Be Beautiful?, organized by OOM Gallery and Midwest, examined the development of contemporary Black cultural practice and its future in Britain. On April 1, 2006, New Art Gallery, Walsall, UK, held a conference in honour of the late Donald Rodney. Gallery 32 and Its Circle, a 2009 art exhibition hosted at Loyola Mount University's Laband Art Gallery,[26] featured artwork displayed the eponymous gallery, which featured black artists in the Los Angeles area and played an integral role in the Black Arts movement in the area.[27] A recently redeveloped African and Asian Visual Arts Archive is located at the University of East London (UEL).[28] While African American art of the 18th and 19th centuries continued to reflect African artistic traditions, the earliest fine art made by professional African American artists was in an academic Western style. Among the leading black sculptors of the 19th century were Eugene Warbourg and Mary Edmonia Lewis, the first professional African American sculptor. The most distinguished African American artist who worked in the 19th century was Henry Ossawa Tanner, who painted African American genre subjects and reflects the realist tradition. In the early 20th century, the most important aesthetic movement in African American art was the Harlem Renaissance or the ‘New Negro’ movement of the 1920s. The Harlem district of New York became the ‘cultural capital of black America’. Practicing in New York, Stuart Davis was heavily influenced by African American culture and jazz music, though he was not an African American. Aaron Douglas consciously incorporated African imagery into his work. The most important African American photographer of that period was James Van Der Zee, who photographed people and scenes in Harlem for more than 50 years. During and immediately after World War II there arose to prominence a new school of African American artists, many of whom were the so-called ‘children of the Harlem Renaissance’. During the 1950s African American art was dominated by Abstract Expressionism and realism; their significant practitioners included Charles Alston, Romare Bearden and James Wells. In the 1960s and 1970s new classifications appeared in African American art based on continuing developments in abstract art and the rise of the figurative style known as Black Expressionism. The most prominent African American abstract painter was Sam Gilliam, based in Washington, DC. Martin Puryear emerged during the 1980s as a leading African American abstract sculptor. In the 1980s African American art was the subject of a number of pioneering exhibitions, such as Black Art—Ancestral Legacy: The African Impulse in African American Art (Dallas Museum of Art, 1989), that brought together the works of African, Caribbean and African American academic and folk artists. Today’s artists, such as Kara Walker and Fred Wilson, continue to grapple with the complex issues of African American history and identity in contemporary visual art. New York, often called New York City[a] or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over 300.46 square miles (778.2 km2), the city is the most densely populated major city in the United States. NYC is more than twice as populous as Los Angeles, the nation's second-largest city. New York City is at the southern tip of New York State and is situated on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each of which is coextensive with a respective county. The five boroughs, which were created in 1898 when local governments were consolidated into a single municipality, are: Brooklyn (Kings County), Queens (Queens County), Manhattan (New York County), the Bronx (Bronx County), and Staten Island (Richmond County).[11] New York City is a global city and a cultural, financial, high-tech,[12] entertainment, glamour,[13] and media center with a significant influence on commerce, health care and scientific output in life sciences,[14][15] research, technology, education, politics, tourism, dining, art, fashion, and sports. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy,[16][17] and it is sometimes described as the world's most important city[18] and the capital of the world.[19][20] The city is the geographical and demographic center of both the Northeast megalopolis and the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the U.S. by both population and urban area. With over 20.1 million people in its metropolitan statistical area and 23.5 million in its combined statistical area as of 2020, New York City is one of the world's most populous megacities.[21] The city and its metropolitan area are the premier gateway for legal immigration to the United States. As many as 800 languages are spoken in New York,[22] making it the most linguistically diverse city in the world. New York City enforces a right-to-shelter law guaranteeing shelter to anyone who needs shelter, regardless of their immigration status;[23] and the city is home to more than 3.2 million residents born outside the U.S., the largest foreign-born population of any city in the world as of 2016.[24] It is the most visited U.S. city by international visitors.[25] Providing continuous 24/7 service and contributing to the nickname The City That Never Sleeps, the New York City Subway is the largest single-operator rapid transit system in the world with 472 passenger rail stations, and Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan is the busiest transportation hub in the Western Hemisphere.[26] New York City traces its origins to Fort Amsterdam and a trading post founded on the southern tip of Manhattan Island by Dutch colonists in approximately 1624. The settlement was named New Amsterdam (Dutch: Nieuw Amsterdam) in 1626 and was chartered as a city in 1653. The city came under British control in 1664 and was renamed New York after King Charles II granted the lands to his brother, the Duke of York.[27] The city was temporarily regained by the Dutch in July 1673 and was renamed New Orange; the city has been named New York since November 1674. New York City was the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790,[28] and has been the largest U.S. city since 1790. The Statue of Liberty greeted millions of immigrants as they came to the U.S. via Ellis Island by ship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and is a symbol of the U.S. and its ideals of liberty and peace.[29] Anchored by Wall Street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, New York City has been called both the world's leading financial and fintech center[30][31] and the most economically powerful city in the world,[32] and is home to the world's two largest stock exchanges by market capitalization of their listed companies, the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq.[33][34] As of 2021, the New York metropolitan area is the second largest metropolitan economy in the world with a gross metropolitan product of almost $2.0 trillion. If the New York metropolitan area were its own country, it would have the tenth-largest economy in the world. New York City is an established safe haven for global investors.[35] As of 2023, New York City is the most expensive city in the world for expatriates to live.[36] New York City is home to the highest number of billionaires,[37][38] individuals of ultra-high net worth (greater than US$30 million),[39] and millionaires of any city in the world.[40] Many districts and monuments in New York City are major landmarks, including three of the world's ten-most visited tourist attractions in 2023.[41] A record 66.6 million tourists visited New York City in 2019. Times Square is the brightly illuminated hub of the Broadway Theater District,[42] one of the world's busiest pedestrian intersections[43] and a major center of the world's entertainment industry.[44] Many of the city's landmarks, skyscrapers, and parks are known around the world, and the city's fast pace led to the phrase New York minute. The Empire State Building is a global standard of reference to describe the height and length of other structures.[45] New York's residential and commercial real estate markets are the most expensive in the world.[46] The city features over 120 colleges and universities, including some of the world's top universities.[47] Its public urban university system, the City University of New York, is the largest in the nation.[48] In the 21st century, New York City has emerged as a global node of creativity, entrepreneurship,[49] and as a symbol of freedom and cultural diversity.[50] The New York Times has won the most Pulitzer Prizes for journalism and remains the U.S. media's newspaper of record. The Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, part of the Stonewall National Monument, is considered the historic epicenter of LGBTQ+ culture in the city[51] and the birthplace of the modern gay rights movement worldwide.[52][53] New York City is the headquarters of the global art market, with numerous art galleries and auction houses collectively hosting half of the world's art auctions; and the Metropolitan Museum of Art is both the largest and one of the world's most-visited art museums and hosts the globally focused Met Gala fashion event annually.[54][55] Etymology See also: Nicknames of New York City In 1664, New York was named in honor of the Duke of York (later King James II of England).[56] James's elder brother, King Charles II, appointed the Duke as proprietor of the former territory of New Netherland, including the city of New Amsterdam, when England seized it from Dutch control.[57] History Main article: History of New York City For a chronological guide, see Timeline of New York City. Further information: History of Manhattan, Timeline of Brooklyn, Timeline of Queens, Timeline of the Bronx, and Timeline of Staten Island Early history Main article: History of New York City (prehistory–1664) Lenape sites in Lower Manhattan In the pre-Columbian era, the area of present-day New York City was inhabited by Algonquians, including the Lenape. Their homeland, known as Lenapehoking, included the present-day areas of Staten Island, Manhattan, the Bronx, the western portion of Long Island (including Brooklyn and Queens), and the Lower Hudson Valley.[58] The first documented visit into New York Harbor by a European was in 1524 by Italian Giovanni da Verrazzano, an explorer from Florence in the service of the French crown.[59] He claimed the area for France and named it Nouvelle Angoulême (New Angoulême).[60] A Spanish expedition, led by the Portuguese captain Estêvão Gomes sailing for Emperor Charles V, arrived in New York Harbor in January 1525 and charted the mouth of the Hudson River, which he named Río de San Antonio ('Saint Anthony's River').[61] In 1609, the English explorer Henry Hudson rediscovered New York Harbor while searching for the Northwest Passage to the Orient for the Dutch East India Company.[62] He proceeded to sail up what the Dutch would name the North River (now the Hudson River), named first by Hudson as the Mauritius after Maurice, Prince of Orange. Hudson's first mate described the harbor as "a very good Harbour for all windes" and the river as "a mile broad" and "full of fish".[63] Hudson claimed the region for the Dutch East India Company. In 1614, the area between Cape Cod and Delaware Bay was claimed by the Netherlands and called Nieuw-Nederland ('New Netherland'). The first non–Native American inhabitant of what would eventually become New York City was Juan Rodriguez, a merchant from Santo Domingo who arrived in Manhattan during the winter of 1613–14, trapping for pelts and trading with the local population as a representative of the Dutch. Broadway, from 159th Street to 218th Street in Upper Manhattan, is named Juan Rodriguez Way in his honor.[64][65][importance?] Dutch rule Main articles: New Amsterdam, Fort Amsterdam, and New Netherland The Castello Plan, a 1660 map of New Amsterdam (the top right corner is roughly north) in Lower Manhattan New Amsterdam, centered in what eventually became Lower Manhattan, in 1664, the year England took control and renamed it New York A permanent European presence near New York Harbor was established in 1624, making New York the 12th-oldest continuously occupied European-established settlement in the continental United States,[66] with the founding of a Dutch fur trading settlement on Governors Island. In 1625, construction was started on a citadel and Fort Amsterdam, later called Nieuw Amsterdam (New Amsterdam), on present-day Manhattan Island.[67][68] The colony of New Amsterdam was centered on what would ultimately become Lower Manhattan. Its area extended from the southern tip of Manhattan to modern-day Wall Street, where a 12-foot (3.7 m) wooden stockade was built in 1653 to protect against Native American and British raids.[69] In 1626, the Dutch colonial Director-General Peter Minuit, acting as charged by the Dutch West India Company, purchased the island of Manhattan from the Canarsie, a small Lenape band,[70] for "the value of 60 guilders"[71] (about $900 in 2018).[72] A frequently told but disproved legend claims that Manhattan was purchased for $24 worth of glass beads.[73][74] Following the purchase, New Amsterdam grew slowly.[27] To attract settlers, the Dutch instituted the patroon system in 1628, whereby wealthy Dutchmen (patroons, or patrons) who brought 50 colonists to New Netherland would be awarded swaths of land, along with local political autonomy and rights to participate in the lucrative fur trade. This program had little success.[75] Since 1621, the Dutch West India Company had operated as a monopoly in New Netherland, on authority granted by the Dutch States General. In 1639–1640, in an effort to bolster economic growth, the Dutch West India Company relinquished its monopoly over the fur trade, leading to growth in the production and trade of food, timber, tobacco, and slaves (particularly with the Dutch West Indies).[27][76] In 1647, Peter Stuyvesant began his tenure as the last Director-General of New Netherland. During his tenure, the population of New Netherland grew from 2,000 to 8,000.[77][78] Stuyvesant has been credited with improving law and order in the colony; however, he earned a reputation as a despotic leader. He instituted regulations on liquor sales, attempted to assert control over the Dutch Reformed Church, and blocked other religious groups (including Quakers, Jews, and Lutherans) from establishing houses of worship.[79] The Dutch West India Company would eventually attempt to ease tensions between Stuyvesant and residents of New Amsterdam.[80] English rule Main articles: Province of New York and History of New York City (1665–1783) The Fall of New Amsterdam by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, part of the Conquest of New Netherland Fort George and New York with British Navy ships of the line c. 1731 Slave being burned at the stake after the 1741 slave revolt[81] In 1664, unable to summon any significant resistance, Stuyvesant surrendered New Amsterdam to English troops, led by Colonel Richard Nicolls, without bloodshed.[79][80] The terms of the surrender permitted Dutch residents to remain in the colony and allowed for religious freedom.[82] In 1667, during negotiations leading to the Treaty of Breda after the Second Anglo-Dutch War, the victorious Dutch decided to keep the nascent plantation colony of what is now Suriname (on the northern South American coast) they had gained from the English; and in return, the English kept New Amsterdam. The fledgling settlement was promptly renamed "New York" after the Duke of York (the future King James II and VII).[83] After the founding, the duke gave part of the colony to proprietors George Carteret and John Berkeley. Fort Orange, 150 miles (240 km) north on the Hudson River, was renamed Albany after James's Scottish title.[84] The transfer was confirmed in 1667 by the Treaty of Breda, which concluded the Second Anglo-Dutch War.[85][repetition] On August 24, 1673, during the Third Anglo-Dutch War, Anthony Colve of the Dutch navy seized New York from the English at the behest of Cornelis Evertsen the Youngest and rechristened it "New Orange" after William III, the Prince of Orange.[86] The Dutch would soon return the island to England under the Treaty of Westminster of November 1674.[87][88] Several intertribal wars among the Native Americans and some epidemics brought on by contact with the Europeans caused sizeable population losses for the Lenape between the years 1660 and 1670.[89] By 1700, the Lenape population had diminished to 200.[90] New York experienced several yellow fever epidemics in the 18th century, losing ten percent of its population in 1702 alone.[91][92] In the early 18th century, New York grew in importance as a trading port while as a part of the colony of New York.[93] It became a center of slavery, with 42% of households enslaving Africans by 1730.[94] Most cases were that of domestic slavery; others were hired out to work at labor. Slavery became integrally tied to New York's economy through the labor of slaves throughout the port, and the banking and shipping industries trading with the American South. During construction in Foley Square in the 1990s, the African Burying Ground was discovered; the cemetery included 10,000 to 20,000 of graves of colonial-era Africans, some enslaved and some free.[95] The 1735 trial and acquittal in Manhattan of John Peter Zenger, who had been accused of seditious libel after criticizing colonial governor William Cosby, helped to establish freedom of the press in North America.[96] In 1754, Columbia University was founded under charter by King George II as King's College in Lower Manhattan.[97] American Revolution Further information: American Revolution The Battle of Long Island, one of the largest battles of the American Revolutionary War, which took place in Brooklyn on August 27, 1776 The Stamp Act Congress met in New York in October 1765, as the Sons of Liberty organization emerged in the city and skirmished over the next ten years with British troops stationed there.[98] The Battle of Long Island, the largest battle of the American Revolutionary War, was fought in August 1776 within the modern-day borough of Brooklyn.[99] After the battle, in which the Americans were defeated, the British made the city their military and political base of operations in North America. The city was a haven for Loyalist refugees and escaped slaves who joined the British lines for freedom newly promised by the Crown. As many as 10,000 escaped slaves crowded into the city during the British occupation. When the British forces evacuated at the close of the war in 1783, they transported 3,000 freedmen for resettlement in Nova Scotia.[100] They resettled other freedmen in England and the Caribbean.[importance?] The only attempt at a peaceful solution to the war[citation needed] took place at the Conference House on Staten Island between American delegates, including Benjamin Franklin, and British general Lord Howe on September 11, 1776. Shortly after the British occupation began, the Great Fire of New York occurred, a large conflagration on the West Side of Lower Manhattan, which destroyed about a quarter of the buildings in the city, including Trinity Church.[101] Post-revolutionary period and early 19th century Main article: History of New York City (1784–1854) First inauguration of George Washington in 1789 In 1785, the assembly of the Congress of the Confederation made New York City the national capital shortly after the war. New York was the last capital of the U.S. under the Articles of Confederation and the first capital under the Constitution of the United States.[102] As the U.S. capital, New York City hosted several events of national scope in 1789—the first President of the United States, George Washington, was inaugurated; the first United States Congress and the Supreme Court of the United States each assembled for the first time; and the United States Bill of Rights was drafted, all at Federal Hall on Wall Street.[102] In 1790, for the first time, New York City, surpassed Philadelphia as the nation's largest city. At the end of that year, the national capital was moved to Philadelphia.[103][104] Over the nineteenth century, New York City's population grew from 60,000 to 3.43 million.[105] Under New York State's abolition act of 1799, children of slave mothers were to be eventually liberated but to be held in indentured servitude until their mid-to-late twenties.[106][107] Together with slaves freed by their masters after the Revolutionary War and escaped slaves, a significant free-Black population gradually developed in Manhattan. Under such influential United States founders as Alexander Hamilton and John Jay, the New York Manumission Society worked for abolition and established the African Free School to educate Black children.[108] It was not until 1827 that slavery was completely abolished in the state, and free Blacks struggled afterward with discrimination. New York interracial abolitionist activism continued; among its leaders were graduates of the African Free School.[importance?] New York city's population jumped from 123,706 in 1820 to 312,710 by 1840, 16,000 of whom were Black.[109][110] A painting of a snowy city street with horse-drawn sleds and a 19th-century fire truck under blue sky Broadway, which follows the Native American Wecquaesgeek Trail through Manhattan, in 1840.[111] In the 19th century, the city was transformed by both commercial and residential development relating to its status as a national and international trading center, as well as by European immigration, respectively.[112] The city adopted the Commissioners' Plan of 1811, which expanded the city street grid to encompass almost all of Manhattan. The 1825 completion of the Erie Canal through central New York connected the Atlantic port to the agricultural markets and commodities of the North American interior via the Hudson River and the Great Lakes.[113] Local politics became dominated by Tammany Hall, a political machine supported by Irish and German immigrants.[114] Several prominent American literary figures lived in New York during the 1830s and 1840s, including William Cullen Bryant, Washington Irving, Herman Melville, Rufus Wilmot Griswold, John Keese, Nathaniel Parker Willis, and Edgar Allan Poe. Public-minded members of the contemporaneous business elite lobbied for the establishment of Central Park, which in 1857 became the first landscaped park in an American city.[citation needed] The Great Irish Famine brought a large influx of Irish immigrants, of whom more than 200,000 were living in New York by 1860, representing upward of one-quarter of the city's population.[115] There was also extensive immigration from the German provinces, where revolutions had disrupted societies, and Germans comprised another 25% of New York's population by 1860.[116][117] American Civil War Main articles: New York City in the American Civil War and History of New York City (1855–1897) Depiction of lynching during the New York City draft riots in 1863 Democratic Party candidates were consistently elected to local office, increasing the city's ties to the South and its dominant party. In 1861, Mayor Fernando Wood called on the aldermen to declare independence from Albany and the United States after the South seceded, but his proposal was not acted on.[108] Anger at new military conscription laws during the American Civil War (1861–1865), which spared wealthier men who could afford to hire a substitute, led to the Draft Riots of 1863, whose most visible participants were ethnic Irish working class.[108] The draft riots deteriorated into attacks on New York's elite, followed by attacks on Black New Yorkers and their property after fierce competition for a decade between Irish immigrants and Black people for work. Rioters burned the Colored Orphan Asylum to the ground, with more than 200 children escaping harm due to efforts of the New York Police Department, which was mainly made up of Irish immigrants.[116] At least 120 people were killed.[118] Eleven Black men were lynched over five days, and the riots forced hundreds of Blacks to flee. The Black population in Manhattan fell below 10,000 by 1865. The White working class had established dominance.[116][118] Violence by longshoremen against Black men was especially fierce in the docks area.[116] It was one of the worst incidents of civil unrest in American history.[119] Early 20th century Main articles: History of New York City (1898–1945) and History of New York City (1946–1977) Manhattan's Little Italy in the Lower East Side, c. 1900 In 1898, the City of New York was formed with the consolidation of Brooklyn (until then a separate city), the County of New York (which then included parts of the Bronx), the County of Richmond, and the western portion of the County of Queens.[120] The opening of the subway in 1904, first built as separate private systems, helped bind the new city together.[121] Throughout the first half of the 20th century, the city became a world center for industry, commerce, and communication.[122] In 1904, the steamship General Slocum caught fire in the East River, killing 1,021 people on board.[123] In 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, the city's worst industrial disaster, killed 146 garment workers and spurred the growth of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union and major improvements in factory safety standards.[124] New York's non-White population was 36,620 in 1890.[125] New York City was a prime destination in the early twentieth century for African Americans during the Great Migration from the American South, and by 1916, New York City had become home to the largest urban African diaspora in North America.[126] The Harlem Renaissance of literary and cultural life flourished during the era of Prohibition.[127] The larger economic boom generated construction of skyscrapers competing in height and creating an identifiable skyline. A man working on a steel girder high about a city skyline. A construction worker atop the Empire State Building during its construction in 1930. The Chrysler Building is visible behind him. New York City became the most populous urbanized area in the world in the early 1920s, overtaking London. The metropolitan area surpassed the 10 million mark in the early 1930s, becoming the first megacity in human history.[128] The Great Depression saw the election of reformer Fiorello La Guardia as mayor and the fall of Tammany Hall after eighty years of political dominance.[129] Returning World War II veterans created a post-war economic boom and the development of large housing tracts in eastern Queens and Nassau County. New York emerged from the war unscathed as the leading city of the world, with Wall Street leading America's place as the world's dominant economic power. The United Nations headquarters was completed in 1952, solidifying New York's global geopolitical influence, and the rise of abstract expressionism in the city precipitated New York's displacement of Paris as the center of the art world.[130] A two-story building with brick on the first floor, with two arched doorways, and gray stucco on the second floor off of which hang numerous rainbow flags. Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, a designated U.S. National Historic Landmark and National Monument, was the site of the June 1969 Stonewall riots and the cradle of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement.[131][132][133] The Stonewall riots were a series of spontaneous, violent protests by members of the gay community against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan.[134] They are widely considered to be the single most important event leading to the gay liberation movement[131][135][136][137] and the modern fight for LGBT rights.[138][139] Wayne R. Dynes, author of the Encyclopedia of Homosexuality, wrote that drag queens were the only "transgender folks around" during the June 1969 Stonewall riots. The transgender community in New York City played a significant role in fighting for LGBT equality during the period of the Stonewall riots and thereafter.[140] Late 20th century to present Main articles: History of New York City (1978–present) and September 11 attacks In the 1970s, job losses due to industrial restructuring caused New York City to suffer from economic problems and rising crime rates.[141] While a resurgence in the financial industry greatly improved the city's economic health in the 1980s, New York's crime rate continued to increase through that decade and into the beginning of the 1990s.[142] By the mid 1990s, crime rates started to drop dramatically due to revised police strategies, improving economic opportunities, gentrification, and new residents, both American transplants and new immigrants from Asia and Latin America. Important new sectors, such as Silicon Alley, emerged in the city's economy.[143] New York City's population reached all-time highs in the 2000, 2010, and 2020 US censuses. The World Trade Center, in Lower Manhattan, during the September 11 attacks in 2001 New York City suffered the bulk of the economic damage and largest loss of human life in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks.[144] Two of the four airliners hijacked that day were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center, destroying the towers and killing 2,192 civilians, 343 firefighters, and 71 law enforcement officers. The North Tower became, and remains, the tallest building to ever be destroyed.[145] The area was rebuilt with a new World Trade Center, the National September 11 Memorial and Museum, and other new buildings and infrastructure.[146] The World Trade Center PATH station, which had opened on July 19, 1909, as the Hudson Terminal,[importance?] was destroyed in the attacks. A temporary station was built and opened on November 23, 2003.[importance?] An 800,000-square-foot (74,000 m2) permanent rail station designed by Santiago Calatrava, the World Trade Center Transportation Hub, the city's third-largest hub, was completed in 2016.[147] The new One World Trade Center is the tallest skyscraper in the Western Hemisphere[148] and the seventh-tallest building in the world by pinnacle height, with its spire reaching a symbolic 1,776 feet (541.3 m) in reference to the year of U.S. independence.[149][150][151] The Occupy Wall Street protests in Zuccotti Park in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan began on September 17, 2011, receiving global attention and popularizing the Occupy movement against social and economic inequality worldwide.[152] Manhattan in the aftermath of the Hurricane Sandy in 2012, the worst to strike the city since 1700.[153] New York City was heavily affected by Hurricane Sandy in late October 2012. Sandy's impacts included the flooding of the New York City Subway system, of many suburban communities, and of all road tunnels entering Manhattan except the Lincoln Tunnel. The New York Stock Exchange closed for two consecutive days. Numerous homes and businesses were destroyed by fire, including over 100 homes in Breezy Point, Queens.[excessive detail?] Large parts of the city and surrounding areas lost electricity for several days. Several thousand people in Midtown Manhattan were evacuated for six days due to a crane collapse at Extell's One57.[excessive detail?] Bellevue Hospital Center and a few other large hospitals were closed and evacuated.[excessive detail?] Flooding at 140 West Street and another exchange disrupted voice and data communication in Lower Manhattan.[excessive detail?] At least 43 people died in New York City as a result of Sandy, and the economic losses in New York City were estimated to be roughly $19 billion. The disaster spawned long-term efforts towards infrastructural projects to counter climate change and rising seas.[154] In March 2020, the first case of COVID-19 in the city was confirmed in Manhattan.[155] The city rapidly replaced Wuhan, China to become the global epicenter of the pandemic during the early phase, before the infection became widespread across the world and the rest of the nation. As of March 2021, New York City had recorded over 30,000 deaths from COVID-19-related complications. Geography Main articles: Geography of New York City and Geography of New York–New Jersey Harbor Estuary Aerial view of the New York City metropolitan area with Manhattan at its center New York City is situated in the northeastern United States, in southeastern New York State, approximately halfway between Washington, D.C. and Boston. The location at the mouth of the Hudson River, which feeds into a naturally sheltered harbor and then into the Atlantic Ocean, has helped the city grow in significance as a trading port. Most of New York City is built on the three islands of Long Island, Manhattan, and Staten Island. During the Wisconsin glaciation, 75,000 to 11,000 years ago, the New York City area was situated at the edge of a large ice sheet.[156] The erosive forward movement of the ice (and its subsequent retreat) contributed to the separation of what is now Long Island and Staten Island. That action left bedrock at a relatively shallow depth, providing a solid foundation for most of Manhattan's skyscrapers.[157] The Hudson River flows through the Hudson Valley into New York Bay. Between New York City and Troy, New York, the river is an estuary.[158] The Hudson River separates the city from the U.S. state of New Jersey. The East River—a tidal strait—flows from Long Island Sound and separates the Bronx and Manhattan from Long Island. The Harlem River, another tidal strait between the East and Hudson rivers, separates most of Manhattan from the Bronx. The Bronx River, which flows through the Bronx and Westchester County, is the only entirely freshwater river in the city.[159][importance?] The city's land has been altered substantially by human intervention, with considerable land reclamation along the waterfronts since Dutch colonial times; reclamation is most prominent in Lower Manhattan, with developments such as Battery Park City in the 1970s and 1980s.[160] Some of the natural relief in topography has been evened out, especially in Manhattan.[161] The city's total area is 468.484 square miles (1,213.37 km2); 302.643 sq mi (783.84 km2) of the city is land and 165.841 sq mi (429.53 km2) of this is water.[162][163] The highest point in the city is Todt Hill on Staten Island, which, at 409.8 feet (124.9 m) above sea level, is the highest point on the eastern seaboard south of Maine.[164] The summit of the ridge is mostly covered in woodlands as part of the Staten Island Greenbelt.[165] Boroughs Main articles: Boroughs of New York City and Neighborhoods in New York City A map showing five boroughs in different colors.   1. Manhattan   2. Brooklyn   3. Queens   4. The Bronx   5. Staten Island New York City's five boroughsvte Jurisdiction Population Land area Density of population GDP † Borough County Census (2020) square miles square km people/ sq. mile people/ sq. km billions (2012 US$) 2 The Bronx Bronx 1,472,654 42.2 109.3 34,920 13,482 $38.726 Brooklyn Kings 2,736,074 69.4 179.7 39,438 15,227 $92.300 Manhattan New York 1,694,251 22.7 58.8 74,781 28,872 $651.619 Queens Queens 2,405,464 108.7 281.5 22,125 8,542 $88.578 Staten Island Richmond 495,747 57.5 148.9 8,618 3,327 $14.806 City of New York 8,804,190 302.6 783.8 29,095 11,234 $885.958 State of New York 20,215,751 47,126.4 122,056.8 429 166 $1,514.779 † GDP = Gross Domestic Product    Sources:[166][167][168][169] and see individual borough articles. New York City is sometimes referred to collectively as the Five Boroughs.[170] Each borough is coextensive with a respective county of New York State, making New York City one of the U.S. municipalities in multiple counties. There are hundreds of distinct neighborhoods throughout the boroughs, many with a definable history and character.[citation needed] If the boroughs were each independent cities, four of the boroughs (Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, and the Bronx) would be among the ten most populous cities in the United States (Staten Island would be ranked 37th as of 2020); these same boroughs are coterminous with the four most densely populated counties in the United States: New York (Manhattan), Kings (Brooklyn), Bronx, and Queens. Manhattan Lower and Midtown Manhattan photographed by a SkySat satellite in August 2017 Midtown Manhattan, the world's largest central business district Manhattan (New York County) is the geographically smallest and most densely populated borough. It is home to Central Park and most of the city's skyscrapers, and is sometimes locally known as The City.[171] Manhattan's population density of 72,033 people per square mile (27,812/km2) in 2015 makes it the highest of any county in the United States and higher than the density of any individual American city.[172] Manhattan is the cultural, administrative, and financial center of New York City and contains the headquarters of many major multinational corporations, the United Nations headquarters, Wall Street, and a number of important universities. The borough of Manhattan is often described as the financial and cultural center of the world.[173][174] Most of the borough is situated on Manhattan Island, at the mouth of the Hudson River and the East River, and its southern tip, at the confluence of the two rivers on the site of today's Financial District in Lower Manhattan, represents the historical birthplace of New York City itself.[175][176] Several small islands also compose part of the borough of Manhattan, including Randalls and Wards Islands, and Roosevelt Island in the East River, and Governors Island and Liberty Island to the south in New York Harbor. Manhattan Island is loosely divided into the Lower, Midtown, and Uptown regions. Uptown Manhattan is divided by Central Park into the Upper East Side and the Upper West Side, and above the park is Harlem, bordering the Bronx (Bronx County). Harlem was predominantly occupied by Jewish and Italian Americans in the 19th century until the Great Migration. It was the center of the Harlem Renaissance. The borough of Manhattan also includes a small neighborhood on the mainland, called Marble Hill, which is contiguous with the Bronx. New York City's remaining four boroughs are collectively referred to as the Outer Boroughs. Brooklyn Downtown Brooklyn seen from Lower Manhattan Brooklyn (Kings County), on the western tip of Long Island, is the city's most populous borough. Brooklyn is known for its cultural, social, and ethnic diversity, an independent art scene, distinct neighborhoods, and a distinctive architectural heritage. Downtown Brooklyn is the largest central core neighborhood in the Outer Boroughs. The borough has a long beachfront shoreline including Coney Island, established in the 1870s as one of the earliest amusement grounds in the U.S.[177] Marine Park and Prospect Park are the two largest parks in Brooklyn.[178] Since 2010, Brooklyn has evolved into a thriving hub of entrepreneurship and high technology startup firms,[179][180] and of postmodern art and design.[180][181] Queens The growing skyline of Long Island City in Queens,[182] facing the East River Queens (Queens County), on Long Island north and east of Brooklyn, is geographically the largest borough, the most ethnically diverse county in the United States,[183] and the most ethnically diverse urban area in the world.[184][185] Historically a collection of small towns and villages founded by the Dutch, the borough has since developed both commercial and residential prominence. Downtown Flushing has become one of the busiest central core neighborhoods in the outer boroughs.[citation needed] Queens is the site of the Citi Field baseball stadium, home of the New York Mets, and hosts the annual U.S. Open tennis tournament at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park. Additionally, two of the three busiest airports serving the New York metropolitan area, John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia Airport, are in Queens. The Bronx The Yankee Stadium in the Bronx The Bronx (Bronx County) is both New York City's northernmost borough, and the only one that is mostly on the mainland. It is the location of Yankee Stadium, the baseball park of the New York Yankees, and home to the largest cooperatively-owned housing complex in the United States, Co-op City.[186] It is home to the Bronx Zoo, the world's largest metropolitan zoo,[187] which spans 265 acres (1.07 km2) and houses more than 6,000 animals.[188] The Bronx is the birthplace of hip hop music and its associated culture.[189] Pelham Bay Park is the largest park in New York City, at 2,772 acres (1,122 ha).[190] Staten Island St. George, Staten Island Staten Island (Richmond County) is the most suburban in character of the five boroughs. It is connected to Brooklyn by the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, and to Manhattan by way of the free Staten Island Ferry. In central Staten Island, the Staten Island Greenbelt spans approximately 2,500 acres (10 km2), including 28 miles (45 km) of walking trails and one of the last undisturbed forests in the city.[191] Designated in 1984 to protect the island's natural lands, the Greenbelt comprises seven city parks. Architecture Further information: Architecture of New York City; List of buildings, sites, and monuments in New York City; List of tallest buildings in New York City; and List of hotels in New York City The Empire State Building has setbacks, Art Deco details, and a spire. It was the world's tallest building from 1931 to 1970. The Chrysler Building, built in 1930, is in the Art Deco style, with ornamental hubcaps and a spire. Landmark 19th-century rowhouses, including brownstones, on tree-lined Kent Street in the Greenpoint Historic District, Brooklyn Modernist and Gothic Revival architecture in Midtown Manhattan New York has architecturally noteworthy buildings in a wide range of styles and from distinct time periods, from the Dutch Colonial Pieter Claesen Wyckoff House in Brooklyn, the oldest section of which dates to 1656, to the modern One World Trade Center, the skyscraper at Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan and the most expensive office tower in the world by construction cost.[192] Manhattan's skyline, with its many skyscrapers, is universally recognized, and the city has been home to several of the tallest buildings in the world. As of 2019, New York City had 6,455 high-rise buildings, the third most in the world after Hong Kong and Seoul.[193] Of these, as of 2011,[needs update] 550 completed structures were at least 330 feet (100 m) high, with more than fifty completed skyscrapers taller than 656 feet (200 m). These include the Woolworth Building, an early example of Gothic Revival architecture in skyscraper design; completed in 1913, for 17 years it was the world's tallest building.[194] The 1916 Zoning Resolution required setbacks in new buildings and restricted towers to a percentage of the lot size, to allow sunlight to reach the streets below.[195] The Art Deco style of the Chrysler Building (1930) and Empire State Building (1931), with their tapered tops and steel spires, reflected the zoning requirements.[citation needed] The buildings have distinctive ornamentation, such as the eagles at the corners of the 61st floor on the Chrysler Building, and are considered some of the finest examples of the Art Deco style.[196] A highly influential example of the International Style in the United States is the Seagram Building (1957), distinctive for its façade using visible bronze-toned I-beams to evoke the building's structure. The Condé Nast Building (2000) is a prominent example of green design in American skyscrapers[197] and has received an award from the American Institute of Architects and AIA New York State for its design.[citation needed] The character of New York's large residential districts is often defined by the elegant brownstone rowhouses and townhouses and shabby tenements that were built during a period of rapid expansion from 1870 to 1930.[198] In contrast, New York City also has neighborhoods that are less densely populated and feature free-standing dwellings. In neighborhoods such as Riverdale (in the Bronx), Ditmas Park (in Brooklyn), and Douglaston (in Queens), large single-family homes are common in various architectural styles such as Tudor Revival and Victorian.[199][200][201] Stone and brick became the city's building materials of choice after the construction of wood-frame houses was limited in the aftermath of the Great Fire of 1835.[202] A distinctive feature of many of the city's buildings is the roof-mounted wooden water tower. In the 1800s, the city required their installation on buildings higher than six stories to prevent the need for excessively high water pressures at lower elevations, which could break municipal water pipes.[203] Garden apartments became popular during the 1920s in outlying areas, such as Jackson Heights.[204] According to the United States Geological Survey, an updated analysis of seismic hazard in July 2014 revealed a "slightly lower hazard for tall buildings" in New York City than previously assessed. Scientists estimated this lessened risk based on a lower likelihood than previously thought of slow shaking near the city, which would be more likely to cause damage to taller structures.[205] Manhattan contained over 500 million square feet of office space as of 2022;[repetition] the COVID-19 pandemic and hybrid work model have prompted consideration of commercial-to-residential conversion within Midtown Manhattan.[206] Ten mile (16km) Manhattan skyline panorama from 120th Street to the Battery, taken in February 2018 from across the Hudson River in Weehawken, New Jersey Riverside ChurchDeutsche Bank Center220 Central Park SouthCentral Park TowerOne57432 Park Avenue53W53Chrysler BuildingBank of America Tower4 Times SquareThe New York Times BuildingEmpire State BuildingManhattan Westa: 55 Hudson Yards, 14b: 35 Hudson Yards, 14c: 10 Hudson Yards, 14d: 15 Hudson Yards56 Leonard Street8 Spruce StreetWoolworth Building70 Pine StreetFour Seasons Downtown40 Wall Street3 World Trade Center4 World Trade CenterOne World Trade Center Climate Main article: Climate of New York City New York City Climate chart (explanation) J F M A M J J A S O N D   3.6  4028   3.2  4230   4.3  5036   4.1  6246   4  7155   4.5  8064   4.6  8570   4.6  8369   4.3  7662   4.4  6551   3.6  5442   4.4  4434 █ Average max. and min. temperatures in °F █ Precipitation totals in inches Metric conversion Deep snow in Brooklyn during the Blizzard of 2006 Under the Köppen climate classification, New York City has a humid subtropical climate (Cfa), and is the northernmost major city on the North American continent with this categorization. The suburbs to the immediate north and west are in the transitional zone between humid subtropical and humid continental climates (Dfa).[207][208] Annually, the city averages 234 days with at least some sunshine.[209] Winters are chilly and damp, and prevailing wind patterns that blow sea breezes offshore temper the moderating effects of the Atlantic Ocean; yet the Atlantic and the partial shielding from colder air by the Appalachian Mountains keep the city warmer in the winter than inland North American cities at similar or lesser latitudes. The daily mean temperature in January, the area's coldest month, is 33.3 °F (0.7 °C).[210] Temperatures usually drop to 10 °F (−12 °C) several times per winter,[211] yet can also reach 60 °F (16 °C) for several days even in the coldest winter month. Spring and autumn are unpredictable and can range from cool to warm, although they are usually mild with low humidity. Summers are typically hot and humid, with a daily mean temperature of 77.5 °F (25.3 °C) in July.[210] Nighttime temperatures are often enhanced due to the urban heat island effect. Daytime temperatures exceed 90 °F (32 °C) on average of 17 days each summer and in some years exceed 100 °F (38 °C), although this is a rare achievement, last occurring on July 18, 2012.[212] Similarly, readings of 0 °F (−18 °C) are extremely rare, last occurring on February 14, 2016.[213] Extreme temperatures have ranged from −15 °F (−26 °C), recorded on February 9, 1934, up to 106 °F (41 °C) on July 9, 1936;[210] the coldest recorded wind chill was −37 °F (−38 °C) on the same day as the all-time record low.[214] The record cold daily maximum was 2 °F (−17 °C) on December 30, 1917, while, conversely, the record warm daily minimum was 87 °F (31 °C), on July 2, 1903.[212] The average water temperature of the nearby Atlantic Ocean ranges from 39.7 °F (4.3 °C) in February to 74.1 °F (23.4 °C) in August.[215] The city receives 49.5 inches (1,260 mm) of precipitation annually, which is relatively evenly spread throughout the year. Average winter snowfall between 1991 and 2020 was 29.8 inches (76 cm); this varies considerably between years. Hurricanes and tropical storms are rare in the New York area.[216] Hurricane Sandy brought a destructive storm surge to New York City on the evening of October 29, 2012, flooding numerous streets, tunnels, and subway lines in Lower Manhattan and other areas of the city and cutting off electricity in many parts of the city and its suburbs.[217] The storm and its profound impacts have prompted the discussion of constructing seawalls and other coastal barriers around the shorelines of the city and the metropolitan area to minimize the risk of destructive consequences from another such event in the future.[154] vte Climate data for New York (Belvedere Castle, Central Park), 1991–2020 normals,[b] extremes 1869–present[c] Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year Record high °F (°C) 72 (22) 78 (26) 86 (30) 96 (36) 99 (37) 101 (38) 106 (41) 104 (40) 102 (39) 94 (34) 84 (29) 75 (24) 106 (41) Mean maximum °F (°C) 60.4 (15.8) 60.7 (15.9) 70.3 (21.3) 82.9 (28.3) 88.5 (31.4) 92.1 (33.4) 95.7 (35.4) 93.4 (34.1) 89.0 (31.7) 79.7 (26.5) 70.7 (21.5) 62.9 (17.2) 97.0 (36.1) Average high °F (°C) 39.5 (4.2) 42.2 (5.7) 49.9 (9.9) 61.8 (16.6) 71.4 (21.9) 79.7 (26.5) 84.9 (29.4) 83.3 (28.5) 76.2 (24.6) 64.5 (18.1) 54.0 (12.2) 44.3 (6.8) 62.6 (17.0) Daily mean °F (°C) 33.7 (0.9) 35.9 (2.2) 42.8 (6.0) 53.7 (12.1) 63.2 (17.3) 72.0 (22.2) 77.5 (25.3) 76.1 (24.5) 69.2 (20.7) 57.9 (14.4) 48.0 (8.9) 39.1 (3.9) 55.8 (13.2) Average low °F (°C) 27.9 (−2.3) 29.5 (−1.4) 35.8 (2.1) 45.5 (7.5) 55.0 (12.8) 64.4 (18.0) 70.1 (21.2) 68.9 (20.5) 62.3 (16.8) 51.4 (10.8) 42.0 (5.6) 33.8 (1.0) 48.9 (9.4) Mean minimum °F (°C) 9.8 (−12.3) 12.7 (−10.7) 19.7 (−6.8) 32.8 (0.4) 43.9 (6.6) 52.7 (11.5) 61.8 (16.6) 60.3 (15.7) 50.2 (10.1) 38.4 (3.6) 27.7 (−2.4) 18.0 (−7.8) 7.7 (−13.5) Record low °F (°C) −6 (−21) −15 (−26) 3 (−16) 12 (−11) 32 (0) 44 (7) 52 (11) 50 (10) 39 (4) 28 (−2) 5 (−15) −13 (−25) −15 (−26) Average precipitation inches (mm) 3.64 (92) 3.19 (81) 4.29 (109) 4.09 (104) 3.96 (101) 4.54 (115) 4.60 (117) 4.56 (116) 4.31 (109) 4.38 (111) 3.58 (91) 4.38 (111) 49.52 (1,258) Average snowfall inches (cm) 8.8 (22) 10.1 (26) 5.0 (13) 0.4 (1.0) 0.0 (0.0) 0.0 (0.0) 0.0 (0.0) 0.0 (0.0) 0.0 (0.0) 0.1 (0.25) 0.5 (1.3) 4.9 (12) 29.8 (76) Average precipitation days (≥ 0.01 in) 10.8 10.0 11.1 11.4 11.5 11.2 10.5 10.0 8.8 9.5 9.2 11.4 125.4 Average snowy days (≥ 0.1 in) 3.7 3.2 2.0 0.2 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.2 2.1 11.4 Average relative humidity (%) 61.5 60.2 58.5 55.3 62.7 65.2 64.2 66.0 67.8 65.6 64.6 64.1 63.0 Average dew point °F (°C) 18.0 (−7.8) 19.0 (−7.2) 25.9 (−3.4) 34.0 (1.1) 47.3 (8.5) 57.4 (14.1) 61.9 (16.6) 62.1 (16.7) 55.6 (13.1) 44.1 (6.7) 34.0 (1.1) 24.6 (−4.1) 40.3 (4.6) Mean monthly sunshine hours 162.7 163.1 212.5 225.6 256.6 257.3 268.2 268.2 219.3 211.2 151.0 139.0 2,534.7 Percent possible sunshine 54 55 57 57 57 57 59 63 59 61 51 48 57 Average ultraviolet index 2 3 4 6 7 8 8 8 6 4 2 1 5 Source 1: NOAA (relative humidity and sun 1961–1990; dew point 1965–1984)[212][219][209] Source 2: Weather Atlas[220] See Climate of New York City for additional climate information from the outer boroughs. Sea temperature data for New York[220] Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year Average sea temperature °F (°C) 41.7 (5.4) 39.7 (4.3) 40.2 (4.5) 45.1 (7.3) 52.5 (11.4) 64.5 (18.1) 72.1 (22.3) 74.1 (23.4) 70.1 (21.2) 63.0 (17.2) 54.3 (12.4) 47.2 (8.4) 55.4 (13.0) Parks Main article: List of New York City parks Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, with the Unisphere at center, was used in both the 1939 and 1964 New York World's Fairs. The city of New York has a complex park system, with various lands operated by the National Park Service, the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, and the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. In its 2018 ParkScore ranking, the Trust for Public Land reported that the park system in New York City was the ninth-best park system among the fifty most populous U.S. cities.[221] ParkScore ranks urban park systems by a formula that analyzes median park size, park acres as percent of city area, the percent of city residents within a half-mile of a park, spending of park services per resident, and the number of playgrounds per 10,000 residents.[importance?] In 2021, the New York City Council banned the use of synthetic pesticides by city agencies and instead required organic lawn management. The effort was started by teacher Paula Rogovin's kindergarten class at P.S. 290.[222][importance?] National parks Main article: National Park Service The Statue of Liberty on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, a global symbol of the United States and its ideals of liberty, freedom, and opportunity[29] Gateway National Recreation Area contains over 26,000 acres (110 km2), most of it in New York City.[223] In Brooklyn and Queens, the park contains over 9,000 acres (36 km2) of salt marsh, wetlands, islands, and water, including most of Jamaica Bay and the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. Also in Queens, the park includes a significant portion of the western Rockaway Peninsula, most notably Jacob Riis Park and Fort Tilden. In Staten Island, it includes Fort Wadsworth, with historic pre-Civil War era Battery Weed and Fort Tompkins, and Great Kills Park. The Statue of Liberty National Monument and Ellis Island Immigration Museum are managed by the National Park Service and are in both New York and New Jersey. They are joined in the harbor by Governors Island National Monument. Historic sites under federal management on Manhattan Island include Stonewall National Monument; Castle Clinton National Monument; Federal Hall National Memorial; Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site; General Grant National Memorial (Grant's Tomb); African Burial Ground National Monument; and Hamilton Grange National Memorial. Hundreds of properties are listed on the National Register of Historic Places or as a National Historic Landmark. State parks Main article: New York state parks Marsha P. Johnson State Park There are seven state parks within the confines of New York City. They include: The Clay Pit Ponds State Park Preserve, a natural area that includes extensive riding trails. Riverbank State Park, a 28-acre (11 ha) facility[224] Marsha P. Johnson State Park, a state park in Brooklyn and Manhattan that borders the East River renamed in honor of Marsha P. Johnson[225] City parks See also: New York City Department of Parks and Recreation The Pond and Midtown Manhattan as seen from Gapstow Bridge in Central Park The Boathouse on the Lullwater in Prospect Park, Brooklyn New York City has over 28,000 acres (110 km2) of municipal parkland and 14 miles (23 km) of public beaches.[226] The largest municipal park in the city is Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx, with 2,772 acres (1,122 ha).[190][227] Central Park, an 843-acre (3.41 km2)[190] park in middle-upper Manhattan, is the most visited urban park in the United States and one of the most filmed and visited locations in the world, with 40 million visitors in 2013.[228] The park has a wide range of attractions; there are several lakes and ponds, two ice-skating rinks, the Central Park Zoo, the Central Park Conservatory Garden, and the 106-acre (0.43 km2) Jackie Onassis Reservoir.[229] Indoor attractions include Belvedere Castle with its nature center, the Swedish Cottage Marionette Theater, and the historic Carousel. On October 23, 2012, hedge fund manager John A. Paulson announced a $100 million gift to the Central Park Conservancy, the largest ever monetary donation to New York City's park system.[230] Washington Square Park is a prominent landmark in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan. The Washington Square Arch at the northern gateway to the park is an iconic symbol of both New York University and Greenwich Village. Prospect Park in Brooklyn has a 90-acre (36 ha) meadow, a lake, and extensive woodlands. Within the park is the historic Battle Pass, prominent in the Battle of Long Island.[231] Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, with its 897 acres (363 ha) making it the city's fourth largest park,[232] was the setting for the 1939 World's Fair and the 1964 World's Fair[233] and is host to the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center and the annual U.S. Open Tennis Championships tournament.[234] Over a fifth of the Bronx's area, 7,000 acres (28 km2), is dedicated to open space and parks, including Pelham Bay Park, Van Cortlandt Park, the Bronx Zoo, and the New York Botanical Gardens.[235] In Staten Island, the Conference House Park contains the historic Conference House, site of the only attempt of a peaceful resolution to the American Revolution which was conducted in September 1775, attended by Benjamin Franklin representing the Americans and Lord Howe representing the British Crown.[236] The historic Burial Ridge, the largest Native American burial ground within New York City, is within the park.[237] Military installations Brooklyn is home to Fort Hamilton, the U.S. military's only active duty installation within New York City,[238] aside from Coast Guard operations. The facility was established in 1825 on the site of a battery used during the American Revolution, and it is one of America's longest serving military forts.[239] Today, Fort Hamilton serves as the headquarters of the North Atlantic Division of the United States Army Corps of Engineers and for the New York City Recruiting Battalion. It also houses the 1179th Transportation Brigade, the 722nd Aeromedical Staging Squadron, and a military entrance processing station. Other formerly active military reservations still used for National Guard and military training or reserve operations in the city include Fort Wadsworth in Staten Island and Fort Totten in Queens.[citation needed] Demographics Historical population Year Pop. ±% 1698 4,937 —     1712 5,840 +18.3% 1723 7,248 +24.1% 1737 10,664 +47.1% 1746 11,717 +9.9% 1756 13,046 +11.3% 1771 21,863 +67.6% 1790 49,401 +126.0% 1800 79,216 +60.4% 1810 119,734 +51.1% 1820 152,056 +27.0% 1830 242,278 +59.3% 1840 391,114 +61.4% 1850 696,115 +78.0% 1860 1,174,779 +68.8% 1870 1,478,103 +25.8% 1880 1,911,698 +29.3% 1890 2,507,414 +31.2% 1900 3,437,202 +37.1% 1910 4,766,883 +38.7% 1920 5,620,048 +17.9% 1930 6,930,446 +23.3% 1940 7,454,995 +7.6% 1950 7,891,957 +5.9% 1960 7,781,984 −1.4% 1970 7,894,862 +1.5% 1980 7,071,639 −10.4% 1990 7,322,564 +3.5% 2000 8,008,278 +9.4% 2010 8,175,133 +2.1% 2020 8,804,190 +7.7% Note: Census figures (1790–2010) cover the present area of all five boroughs, before and after the 1898 consolidation. For New York City itself before annexing part of the Bronx in 1874, see Manhattan#Demographics.[240] Source: U.S. Decennial Census;[241] 1698–1771[242] 1790–1890[240][243] 1900–1990[244] 2000–2010[245][246][247] 2010–2020[248] Main articles: Demographics of New York City and Demographic history of New York City New York City is the most populous city in the United States,[249] with 8,804,190 residents incorporating more immigration into the city than outmigration since the 2010 United States census.[248][250][251] More than twice as many people live in New York City as compared to Los Angeles, the second-most populous U.S. city.[249] New York City gained more residents between 2010 and 2020 (629,000) than any other U.S. city, and a greater amount than the total sum of the gains over the same decade of the next four largest U.S. cities (Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Phoenix, Arizona) combined.[252][253] New York City comprises about 44% of the state's population,[254] and about 39% of the population of the New York metropolitan area.[255] The majority of New York City residents in 2020 (5,141,538, or 58.4%) were living on Long Island, in Brooklyn, or in Queens.[256] The New York City metropolitan statistical area, has the largest foreign-born population of any metropolitan region in the world. The New York region continues to be by far the leading metropolitan gateway for legal immigrants admitted into the United States, substantially exceeding the combined totals of Los Angeles and Miami.[257] In 2020, the city had an estimated population density of 29,302.37 inhabitants per square mile (11,313.71/km2), rendering it the nation's most densely populated of all municipalities with more than 100,000 residents. Geographically co-extensive with New York County, the borough of Manhattan's 2017 population density of 72,918 inhabitants per square mile (28,154/km2) makes it the highest of any county in the United States and higher than the density of any individual American city.[258][259][260][repetition] The next three densest counties in the United States are also New York boroughs: Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Queens respectively.[261][repetition] Race and ethnicity Main article: New York City ethnic enclaves Historical demographics 2020[262] 2010[263] 1990[264] 1970[264] 1940[264] Map of racial distribution in New York, 2010 U.S. Census. Each dot is 25 people: White, Black, Asian, Hispanic, or Other (yellow) The city's population in 2020 was 30.9% White (non-Hispanic), 28.7% Hispanic or Latino, 20.2% Black or African American (non-Hispanic), 15.6% Asian, and 0.2% Native American (non-Hispanic).[265] A total of 3.4% of the non-Hispanic population identified with more than one race. Throughout its history, New York has been a major port of entry for immigrants into the United States. More than 12 million European immigrants were received at Ellis Island between 1892 and 1954.[266] The term "melting pot" was first coined to describe densely populated immigrant neighborhoods on the Lower East Side. By 1900, Germans were the largest immigrant group, followed by the Irish, Jews, and Italians.[267] In 1940, Whites represented 92% of the city's population at 6.6 million.[264][268] Approximately 37% of the city's population is foreign born, and more than half of all children are born to mothers who are immigrants as of 2013.[269][270] In New York, no single country or region of origin dominates.[269] The ten largest sources of foreign-born individuals in the city as of 2011 were the Dominican Republic, China, Mexico, Guyana, Jamaica, Ecuador, Haiti, India, Russia, and Trinidad and Tobago,[271] while the Bangladeshi-born immigrant population has become one of the fastest growing in the city, counting over 74,000 by 2011.[24][272] Asian Americans in New York City, according to the 2010 census, number more than one million, greater than the combined totals of San Francisco and Los Angeles.[273] New York contains the highest total Asian population of any U.S. city proper.[274] The New York City borough of Queens is home to the state's largest Asian American population and the largest Andean (Colombian, Ecuadorian, Peruvian, and Bolivian) populations in the United States, and is also the most ethnically and linguistically diverse urban area in the world.[275][185] Tens of thousands of asylum seekers from Venezuela have arrived in New York City since 2022.[276] Chinatown, Manhattan Little Italy, Manhattan Koreatown, Manhattan Little Manila, Queens Little Russia, Brooklyn Little India, Queens The Chinese population is the fastest-growing nationality in New York State. Multiple satellites of the original Manhattan's Chinatown—home to the highest concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere,[277] as well as in Brooklyn, and around Flushing, Queens, are thriving as traditionally urban enclaves—while also expanding rapidly eastward into suburban Nassau County[278] on Long Island,[279] as the New York metropolitan region and New York State have become the top destinations for new Chinese immigrants, respectively, and large-scale Chinese immigration continues into New York City and surrounding areas,[257][280][281][282][283][284] with the largest metropolitan Chinese diaspora outside Asia,[24][285] including an estimated 812,410 individuals in 2015.[286] In 2012, 6.3% of New York City was of Chinese ethnicity, with nearly three-fourths living in either Queens or Brooklyn.[287] A community numbering 20,000 Korean-Chinese (Chaoxianzu or Joseonjok) is centered in Flushing, Queens, while New York City is home to the largest Tibetan population outside China, India, and Nepal, also centered in Queens.[288] Koreans made up 1.2% of the city's population, and Japanese 0.3%. Filipinos were the largest Southeast Asian ethnic group at 0.8%, followed by Vietnamese, who made up 0.2% of New York City's population in 2010. Indians are the largest South Asian group, comprising 2.4% of the city's population, with Bangladeshis and Pakistanis at 0.7% and 0.5%, respectively.[289] Queens is the preferred borough of settlement for Asian Indians, Koreans, Filipinos, and Malaysians,[290][257] and other Southeast Asians;[291] while Brooklyn is receiving large numbers of both West Indian and Asian Indian immigrants, and Manhattan is the favored destination for Japanese.[citation needed] New York City has the largest European and non-Hispanic white population of any American city. At 2.7 million in 2012, New York's non-Hispanic White population is larger than the non-Hispanic White populations of Los Angeles, Chicago, and Houston combined.[292] The non-Hispanic White population has begun to increase since 2010.[293][needs update] The European diaspora residing in the city is very diverse. According to 2012 census estimates, there were roughly 560,000 Italian Americans, 385,000 Irish Americans, 253,000 German Americans, 223,000 Russian Americans, 201,000 Polish Americans, and 137,000 English Americans. Additionally, Greek and French Americans numbered 65,000 each, with those of Hungarian descent estimated at 60,000 people. Ukrainian and Scottish Americans numbered 55,000 and 35,000, respectively. People identifying ancestry from Spain numbered 30,838 total in 2010,[294] and Belarusians numbered about 55,000 as of 2010.[295] People of Norwegian and Swedish descent both stood at about 20,000 each, while people of Czech, Lithuanian, Portuguese, Scotch-Irish, and Welsh descent all numbered between 12,000 and 14,000.[296] Arab Americans number over 160,000 in New York City,[297] with the highest concentration in Brooklyn. Central Asians, primarily Uzbek Americans, are a rapidly growing segment of the city's non-Hispanic White population, enumerating over 30,000, and including more than half of all Central Asian immigrants to the United States,[298] most settling in Queens or Brooklyn. Albanian Americans are most highly concentrated in the Bronx,[299] while Astoria, Queens is the epicenter of American Greek culture as well as the Cypriot community.[citation needed] New York is home to the highest Jewish population of any city in the world, numbering 1.6 million in 2022, more than Tel Aviv and Jerusalem combined.[300] In the borough of Brooklyn, an estimated 1 in 4 residents is Jewish.[301] The city's Jewish communities are derived from many diverse sects, predominantly from around the Middle East and Eastern Europe, and including a rapidly growing Orthodox Jewish population, the largest outside Israel.[288] The metropolitan area is home to 20% of the nation's Indian Americans and at least 20 Little India enclaves, and 15% of all Korean Americans and four Koreatowns;[246] the largest Asian Indian population in the Western Hemisphere; the largest Russian American,[280] Italian American, and African American populations; the largest Dominican American, Puerto Rican American, and South American[280] and second-largest overall Hispanic population in the United States, numbering 4.8 million;[294] and includes multiple established Chinatowns within New York City alone.[302] Ecuador, Colombia, Guyana, Peru, Brazil, and Venezuela are the top source countries from South America for immigrants to the New York City region; the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Haiti, and Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean; Nigeria, Egypt, Ghana, Tanzania, Kenya, and South Africa from Africa; and El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala in Central America.[303] Amidst a resurgence of Puerto Rican migration to New York City, this population had increased to approximately 1.3 million in the metropolitan area as of 2013.[citation needed] Since 2010, Little Australia has emerged and is growing rapidly, representing the Australasian presence in Nolita, Manhattan.[304][305][306][307] In 2011, there were an estimated 20,000 Australian residents of New York City, nearly quadruple the 5,537 in 2005.[308][309] Qantas Airways of Australia and Air New Zealand have been planning for long-haul flights from New York to Sydney and Auckland, which would both rank among the longest non-stop flights in the world.[310] A Little Sri Lanka has developed in the Tompkinsville neighborhood of Staten Island.[311] Le Petit Sénégal, or Little Senegal, is based in Harlem. Richmond Hill, Queens is often thought of as "Little Guyana" for its large Guyanese community,[312] as well as Punjab Avenue (ਪੰਜਾਬ ਐਵੇਨਿਊ), or Little Punjab, for its high concentration of Punjabi people. Little Poland is expanding rapidly in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.[citation needed] Sexual orientation and gender identity Main articles: LGBT culture in New York City, Same-sex marriage in New York, Stonewall riots, and NYC Pride March Further information: New York City Drag March, Queens Liberation Front, Queens Pride Parade, Greenwich Village Halloween Parade, List of LGBT people from New York City, and List of largest LGBT events Caribbean NYC-LGBTQ Equality Project The NYC Dyke March, the world's largest celebration of lesbian pride and culture[313] NYC Pride March in Manhattan, the world's largest[314][315] The Multicultural Festival at the 2018 Queens Pride Parade New York City has been described as the gay capital of the world and the central node of the LGBTQ+ sociopolitical ecosystem, and is home to one of the world's largest LGBTQ populations and the most prominent.[51] The New York metropolitan area is home to about 570,000 self-identifying gay and bisexual people, the largest in the United States.[316][317] Same-sex sexual activity between consenting adults has been legal in New York since the New York v. Onofre case in 1980 which invalidated the state's sodomy law.[318] Same-sex marriages in New York were legalized on June 24, 2011, and were authorized to take place on July 23, 2011.[319] Brian Silverman, the author of Frommer's New York City from $90 a Day, wrote the city has "one of the world's largest, loudest, and most powerful LGBT communities", and "Gay and lesbian culture is as much a part of New York's basic identity as yellow cabs, high-rise buildings, and Broadway theatre".[320] LGBT travel guide Queer in the World states, "The fabulosity of Gay New York is unrivaled on Earth, and queer culture seeps into every corner of its five boroughs".[321] LGBT advocate and entertainer Madonna stated metaphorically, "Anyways, not only is New York City the best place in the world because of the queer people here. Let me tell you something, if you can make it here, then you must be queer."[322] The annual New York City Pride March proceeds southward down Fifth Avenue and ends at Greenwich Village in Lower Manhattan; the parade is the largest pride parade in the world, attracting tens of thousands of participants and millions of sidewalk spectators each June.[323][314] The annual Queens Pride Parade is held in Jackson Heights and is accompanied by the ensuing Multicultural Parade.[324] Stonewall 50 – WorldPride NYC 2019 was the largest international Pride celebration in history, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, with 150,000 participants and five million spectators attending in Manhattan alone.[325] New York City is home to the largest transgender population in the world, estimated at more than 50,000 in 2018, concentrated in Manhattan and Queens; however, until the June 1969 Stonewall riots, this community had felt marginalized and neglected by the gay community.[324][140] Brooklyn Liberation March, the largest transgender-rights demonstration in LGBTQ history, took place on June 14, 2020, stretching from Grand Army Plaza to Fort Greene, Brooklyn, focused on supporting Black transgender lives, drawing an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 participants.[326][327] Religion Religious affiliation (2014)[328][329] Christian   59% Catholic   33% Protestant   23% Other Christian   3% Unaffiliated   22% Jewish   8% Muslim   7% Hindu   2% Buddhist   1% Other faiths   1% Religious affiliations in New York City The landmark Neo-Gothic Roman Catholic St. Patrick's Cathedral, Midtown Manhattan Central Synagogue, a notable Reform synagogue located at 652 Lexington Avenue The Islamic Cultural Center of New York in Upper Manhattan, the first mosque built in New York City Ganesh Temple in Flushing, Queens, the oldest Hindu temple in the U.S. Christianity Further information: St. Patrick's Cathedral (Midtown Manhattan), Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree, and Christmas in New York Largely as a result of Western European missionary work and colonialism, Christianity is the largest religion (59% adherent) in New York City,[328] which is home to the highest number of churches of any city in the world.[19] Roman Catholicism is the largest Christian denomination (33%), followed by Protestantism (23%), and other Christian denominations (3%). The Roman Catholic population are primarily served by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York and Diocese of Brooklyn. Eastern Catholics are divided into numerous jurisdictions throughout the city. Evangelical Protestantism is the largest branch of Protestantism in the city (9%), followed by Mainline Protestantism (8%), while the converse is usually true for other cities and metropolitan areas.[329] In Evangelicalism, Baptists are the largest group; in Mainline Protestantism, Reformed Protestants compose the largest subset. The majority of historically African American churches are affiliated with the National Baptist Convention (USA) and Progressive National Baptist Convention. The Church of God in Christ is one of the largest predominantly Black Pentecostal denominations in the area. Approximately 1% of the population is Mormon. The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and other Orthodox Christians (mainstream and independent) were the largest Eastern Christian groups. The American Orthodox Catholic Church (initially led by Aftimios Ofiesh) was founded in New York City in 1927.[citation needed] Judaism Main articles: Judaism in New York City, History of the Jews in New York, and Jewish arrival in New Amsterdam Judaism, the second-largest religion practiced in New York City, with approximately 1.6 million adherents as of 2022, represents the largest Jewish community of any city in the world, greater than the combined totals of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.[330][331] Nearly half of the city's Jews live in Brooklyn, which is one-quarter Jewish.[332][333] The ethno-religious population makes up 18.4% of the city and its religious demographic makes up 8%.[334] The first recorded Jewish settler was Jacob Barsimson, who arrived in August 1654 on a passport from the Dutch West India Company.[335][importance?] Following the assassination of Alexander II of Russia, for which many blamed "the Jews", the 36 years beginning in 1881 experienced the largest wave of Jewish immigration to the United States.[336][relevant?] In 2012, the largest Jewish denominations were Orthodox, Haredi, and Conservative Judaism.[337] Reform Jewish communities are prevalent through the area. 770 Eastern Parkway is the headquarters of the international Chabad Lubavitch movement, and is considered an icon, while Congregation Emanu-El of New York in Manhattan is the largest Reform synagogue in the world.[citation needed] Islam Main article: Islam in New York City Islam ranks as the third largest religion in New York City, following Christianity and Judaism, with estimates ranging between 600,000 and 1,000,000 observers of Islam, including 10% of the city's public school children.[338] 22.3% of American Muslims live in New York City, with 1.5 million Muslims in the greater New York metropolitan area, representing the largest metropolitan Muslim population in the Western Hemisphere[339]—and the most ethnically diverse Muslim population of any city in the world.[340] Powers Street Mosque in Brooklyn is one of the oldest continuously operating mosques in the U.S., and represents the first Islamic organization in both the city and the state of New York.[341][342] Hinduism and other religious affiliations Further information: Hindu Temple Society of North America Following these three largest religious groups in New York City are Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Zoroastrianism, and a variety of other religions. As of 2023, 24% of Greater New Yorkers identified with no organized religious affiliation, including 4% Atheist.[343] Wealth and income disparity New York City, like other large cities, has a high degree of income disparity, as indicated by its Gini coefficient of 0.55 as of 2017.[344] In the first quarter of 2014,[needs update] the average weekly wage in New York County (Manhattan) was $2,749, representing the highest total among large counties in the United States.[345] In 2022, New York City was home to the highest number of billionaires of any city in the world, with a total of 107.[37] New York also had the highest density of millionaires per capita among major U.S. cities in 2014, at 4.6% of residents.[346] New York City is one of the relatively few American cities levying an income tax (about 3%) on its residents.[347][348][349] As of 2018, there were 78,676 homeless people in New York City.[350] Economy Main article: Economy of New York City Further information: Economy of Long Island and Economy of New York Midtown Manhattan, the world's largest central business district[351] see caption The Financial District of Lower Manhattan New York City is a global hub of business and commerce and an established safe haven for global investors,[35] and is sometimes described as the capital of the world.[352] New York is a center for worldwide banking and finance, health care and life sciences,[15] medical technology and research, retailing, world trade, transportation, tourism, real estate, new media, traditional media, advertising, legal services, accountancy, insurance, and the arts in the United States; while Silicon Alley, metonymous for New York's broad-spectrum high technology sphere, continues to expand. The Port of New York and New Jersey is a major economic engine, benefitting post-Panamax from the expansion of the Panama Canal, and accelerating ahead of California seaports in monthly cargo volumes in 2023.[353][354][355] Many Fortune 500 corporations are headquartered in New York City,[356] as are a large number of multinational corporations. New York City has been ranked first among cities across the globe in attracting capital, business, and tourists.[357][358] New York City's role as the top global center for the advertising industry is metonymously reflected as Madison Avenue.[359] The city's fashion industry provides approximately 180,000 employees with $11 billion in annual wages.[360] The non-profit Partnership for New York City is the city's pre-eminent private business association, comprising approximately 330 corporate leaders.[citation needed] The fashion industry is based in Midtown Manhattan and is represented by the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CDFA), headquartered in Lower Manhattan. Significant economic sectors include non-profit institutions, and universities. Manufacturing declined over the 20th century but still accounts for significant employment. particularly in smaller operations.[citation needed] The city's apparel and garment industry, historically centered on the Garment District in Manhattan, peaked in 1950, when more than 323,000 workers were employed in the industry in New York. In 2015, fewer than 23,000 New York City residents were employed in the industry, although revival efforts were underway,[361] and the American fashion industry continues to be metonymized as Seventh Avenue.[362] Chocolate is New York City's leading specialty-food export, with up to $234 million worth of exports each year.[363] Godiva, one of the world's largest chocolatiers, is headquartered in Manhattan,[364] and an unofficial chocolate district in Brooklyn is home to several chocolate makers and retailers.[365] Food processing is a $5 billion industry that employs more than 19,000 residents.[citation needed] In 2017, there were 205,592 employer firms in New York City.[263] Of those firms, 64,514 were owned by minorities, while veterans owned 5,506 of those firms, statistics pertinent to the increasing participation of U.S. firms in diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.[263] Midtown Manhattan in panorama from Weehawken, New Jersey, pictured in September 2021 Wall Street Main article: Wall Street A large flag is stretched over Roman style columns on the front of a large building. The New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street, the world's largest stock exchange per total market capitalization of its listed companies[366][367] New York City's most important economic sector lies in its role as the headquarters for the U.S. financial industry, metonymously known as Wall Street. The city's securities industry continues to form the largest segment of the city's financial sector and is an important economic engine.[citation needed] Many large financial companies are headquartered in New York City, and the city is home to a burgeoning number of financial startup companies. Lower Manhattan is home to the New York Stock Exchange, at 11 Wall Street, and the Nasdaq, at 165 Broadway, representing the world's largest and second largest stock exchanges, respectively, when measured both by overall average daily trading volume and by total market capitalization of their listed companies in 2013.[366][367] Investment banking fees on Wall Street totaled approximately $40 billion in 2012,[368][needs update] while in 2013, senior New York City bank officers who manage risk and compliance functions earned as much as $324,000 annually.[369][importance?] In fiscal year 2013–14, Wall Street's securities industry generated 19% of New York State's tax revenue.[370] New York City remains the largest global center for trading in public equity and debt capital markets, driven in part by the size and financial development of the U.S. economy.[371]: 31–32 [372] New York also leads in hedge fund management; private equity; and the monetary volume of mergers and acquisitions. Several investment banks and investment managers headquartered in Manhattan are important participants in other global financial centers.[371]: 34–35  New York is the principal commercial banking center of the United States.[373] Many of the world's largest media conglomerates are based in the city. Manhattan contained over 500 million square feet (46.5 million m2) of office space in 2018,[374] making it the largest office market in the United States,[375] while Midtown Manhattan, with 400 million square feet (37.2 million m2) in 2018,[374] is the largest central business district in the world.[376] Tech and biotech Further information: Tech:NYC, Tech companies in New York City, Biotech companies in New York City, and Silicon Alley View from the Empire State Building looking southward (downtown) at the central Flatiron District, the cradle of Silicon Alley, initially metonymous for the New York metropolitan region's high tech sector Cornell Tech on Roosevelt Island New York is a top-tier global technology hub.[12][377] Silicon Alley, once a metonym for the sphere encompassing the metropolitan region's high technology industries,[378] is no longer a relevant moniker as the city's tech environment has expanded dramatically both in location and in scope since at least 2003, when tech business appeared in more places in Manhattan and in other boroughs, and not much silicon was involved.[378][379] New York City's current tech sphere encompasses the array of applications involving universal applications of artificial intelligence,[380][381] broadband internet,[382] new media, financial technology (fintech) and cryptocurrency, biotechnology, game design, and other fields within information technology that are supported by its entrepreneurship ecosystem and venture capital investments. Technology-driven startup companies and entrepreneurial employment are growing in New York City and the region. The technology sector has been claiming a greater share of New York City's economy since 2010.[383] Tech:NYC, founded in 2016, is a non-profit organization which represents New York City's technology industry with government, civic institutions, in business, and in the media, and whose primary goals are to further augment New York's substantial tech talent base and to advocate for policies that will nurture tech companies to grow in the city.[384] The biotechnology sector is growing in New York City, based on the city's strength in academic scientific research and public and commercial financial support. On December 19, 2011, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced his choice of Cornell University and Technion-Israel Institute of Technology to build a $2 billion graduate school of applied sciences called Cornell Tech on Roosevelt Island with the goal of transforming New York City into the world's premier technology capital.[385][386] By mid-2014, Accelerator, a biotech investment firm, had raised more than $30 million from investors, including Eli Lilly and Company, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson, for initial funding to create biotechnology startups at the Alexandria Center for Life Science, which encompasses more than 700,000 square feet (65,000 m2) on East 29th Street and promotes collaboration among scientists and entrepreneurs at the center and with nearby academic, medical, and research institutions.[excessive detail?] The New York City Economic Development Corporation's Early Stage Life Sciences Funding Initiative and venture capital partners, including Celgene, General Electric Ventures, and Eli Lilly, committed[needs update] a minimum of $100 million to help launch 15 to 20 ventures in life sciences and biotechnology.[387] Real estate Apple Store at Fifth Avenue, one of the most expensive shopping streets in the world.[388][389] The total value of all New York City property was assessed at US$1.479 trillion for the 2017 fiscal year, an increase of 6.1% from the previous year and up 38% from the $1.072 trillion assessed for 2017; of the total market value for 2024, single family homes accounted for $765 billion (51.7%), co-ops, condos and apartment buildings totaled $351 billion (23.7%) and commercial properties were valued at $317 billion (21.4%).[390][391] In 2014, Manhattan was home to six of the top ten ZIP codes in the United States by median housing price.[392] Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan commands the highest retail rents in the world, at $3,000 per square foot ($32,000/m2) in 2017.[393] In 2019, the most expensive home sale ever in the United States achieved completion in Manhattan, at a selling price of $238 million, for a 24,000 square feet (2,200 m2) penthouse apartment overlooking Central Park.[394] In 2022, one-bedroom apartments in Manhattan rented at a median monthly price of US$3,600.00, one of the world's highest. New York City real estate is a safe haven for global investors.[35] Tourism Main article: Tourism in New York City Times Square, the hub of the theater district and a global media center, is one of the world's leading tourist attractions with 50 million tourists annually.[43] The I Love New York logo designed by Milton Glaser in 1977 Tourism is a vital industry for New York City, and NYC & Company represents the city's official bureau of tourism. New York has witnessed a growing combined volume of international and domestic tourists, reflecting over 60 million visitors to the city per year, the world's busiest tourist destination.[19] Approximately 12 million visitors to New York City have been from outside the United States, with the highest numbers from the United Kingdom, Canada, Brazil, and China. Multiple sources have called New York the most photographed city in the world.[395][396][397] I Love New York (stylized I ❤ NY) is both a logo and a song that are the basis of an advertising campaign and have been used since 1977 to promote tourism in New York City,[398] and later to promote New York State as well. The trademarked logo, owned by New York State Empire State Development,[399] appears in souvenir shops and brochures throughout the city and state, some licensed, many not.[citation needed] The song is the state song of New York. The majority of the most high-profile tourist destinations to the city are situated in Manhattan. These include Times Square; Broadway theater productions; the Empire State Building; the Statue of Liberty; Ellis Island; the United Nations headquarters; the World Trade Center (including the National September 11 Memorial & Museum and One World Trade Center); the art museums along Museum Mile; green spaces such as Central Park, Washington Square Park, the High Line, and the medieval gardens of The Cloisters; the Stonewall Inn; Rockefeller Center; ethnic enclaves including the Manhattan Chinatown, Koreatown, Curry Hill, Harlem, Spanish Harlem, Little Italy, and Little Australia; luxury shopping along Fifth and Madison Avenues; and events such as the Halloween Parade in Greenwich Village; the Brooklyn Bridge (shared with Brooklyn); the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade; the lighting of the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree; the St. Patrick's Day Parade; seasonal activities such as ice skating in Central Park in the wintertime; the Tribeca Film Festival; and free performances in Central Park at SummerStage.[citation needed] Points of interest have developed in the city outside Manhattan and have made the outer boroughs tourist destinations in their own right. These include numerous ethnic enclaves; the Unisphere, Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, and Downtown Flushing in Queens;[citation needed] Downtown Brooklyn, Coney Island, Williamsburg, Park Slope, and Prospect Park in Brooklyn;[citation needed] the Bronx Zoo, the New York Botanical Garden, and the Grand Concourse in the Bronx;[citation needed] and the Staten Island Ferry. Media and entertainment Main article: Media in New York City Further information: New Yorkers in journalism Rockefeller Center, one of Manhattan's leading media and entertainment hubs Times Square Studios on Times Square is sometimes called the "Crossroads of the World". New York City has been described as the entertainment[19][400][401] and digital media capital of the world.[402] The city is a prominent location for the American entertainment industry, with many films, television series, books, and other media being set there.[403] As of 2019, New York City was the second-largest center for filmmaking and television production in the United States, producing about 200 feature films annually, employing 130,000 individuals. The filmed entertainment industry has been growing in New York, contributing nearly $9 billion to the New York City economy alone as of 2015.[404] By volume, New York is the world leader in independent film production—one-third of all American independent films are produced there.[405][406] The Association of Independent Commercial Producers is based in New York.[407][importance?] In the first five months of 2014,[needs update] location filming for television pilots in New York City exceeded the record production levels for all of 2013,[408] with New York surpassing Los Angeles as the top North American city for the same distinction during the 2013–2014 cycle.[409] New York City is the center for the advertising, music, newspaper, digital media, and publishing industries and is the largest media market in North America.[410] Some of the city's media conglomerates and institutions include Warner Bros. Discovery, the Thomson Reuters Corporation, the Associated Press, Bloomberg L.P., the News Corp, The New York Times Company, NBCUniversal, the Hearst Corporation, AOL, Fox Corporation, and Paramount Global. Seven of the world's top eight global advertising agency networks have their headquarters in New York.[411] Two of the top three record labels' headquarters are in New York: Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group. Universal Music Group has offices in New York.[importance?] New media enterprises are contributing an increasingly important component to the city's central role in the media sphere.[citation needed] More than 200 newspapers and 350 consumer magazines have an office in the city,[406] and the publishing industry employs about 25,000 people.[412] Two of the three national daily newspapers with the largest circulations in the United States are published in New York: The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times (NYT). Nicknamed "the Grey Lady",[importance?] the NYT has won the most Pulitzer Prizes for journalism and is considered the U.S. media's newspaper of record.[413] Tabloid newspapers in the city include the New York Daily News, which was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson,[414] and The New York Post, founded in 1801 by Alexander Hamilton.[415] At the local news end of the media spectrum, Patch Media is headquartered in Manhattan. New York City has a comprehensive ethnic press, with 270 newspapers and magazines published in more than 40 languages.[416] El Diario La Prensa is New York's largest Spanish-language daily and the oldest in the nation.[417] The New York Amsterdam News, published in Harlem, is a prominent[citation needed] African American newspaper. The Village Voice, historically the largest alternative newspaper in the United States, announced in 2017 that it would cease publication of its print edition and convert to a fully digital venture.[418] The television and radio industry developed in New York and is a significant employer in the city's economy.[citation needed] The three major American broadcast networks are all headquartered in New York: ABC, CBS, and NBC. Many cable networks are based in the city as well, including CNN, MSNBC, MTV, Fox News, HBO, Showtime, Bravo, Food Network, AMC, and Comedy Central. News 12 Networks operated News 12 The Bronx and News 12 Brooklyn. WBAI, with news and information programming, is one of the few socialist radio stations operating in the United States.[citation needed] New York is a major center for non-commercial educational media. NYC Media is the official public radio, television, and online media network and broadcasting service of New York City,[419] and has produced several original Emmy Award-winning shows covering music and culture in city neighborhoods and city government. The oldest public-access television channel in the United States is the Manhattan Neighborhood Network, founded in 1971.[420] WNET is the city's major public television station and a primary source of national Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) television programming. WNYC, a public radio station owned by the city until 1997, has the largest public radio audience in the United States.[421] Education Main article: Education in New York City Butler Library at Columbia University The Washington Square Arch, an unofficial icon of both New York University and the Greenwich Village neighborhood that surrounds it[422] Fordham University's Keating Hall in the Bronx New York City has the largest educational system of any city in the world.[19] The city's educational infrastructure spans primary education, secondary education, higher education, and research. Primary and secondary education The New York City Public Schools system, managed by the New York City Department of Education, is the largest public school system in the United States, serving about 1.1 million students in approximately 1,800 separate primary and secondary schools, including charter schools, as of the 2017–2018 school year.[423] The city's public school system includes nine specialized high schools to serve academically and artistically gifted students. The city government pays the Pelham Public Schools to educate a very small, detached section of the Bronx.[424][importance?] The New York City Charter School Center assists the setup of new charter schools.[425] There are approximately 900 additional privately run secular and religious schools in the city.[426] Higher education and research More than a million students, the highest number of any city in the United States,[427] are enrolled in New York City's more than 120 higher education institutions, with more than half a million in the City University of New York (CUNY) system alone as of 2020, including both degree and professional programs.[428] According to Academic Ranking of World Universities, New York City has, on average, the best higher education institutions of any global city.[429] The public CUNY system is one of the largest universities in the nation,[citation needed] comprising 25 institutions across all five boroughs: senior colleges, community colleges, and other graduate/professional schools. The public State University of New York (SUNY) system includes campuses in New York City, including SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, Fashion Institute of Technology, SUNY Maritime College, and SUNY College of Optometry. New York City is home to such notable private universities as Barnard College, Columbia University, Cooper Union, Fordham University, New York University, New York Institute of Technology, Rockefeller University, and Yeshiva University; several of these universities are ranked among the top universities in the world,[430][431] while some of the world's most prestigious institutions like Princeton University and Yale University remain in the New York metropolitan area. The city hosts other smaller private colleges and universities, including many religious and special-purpose institutions, such as Pace University, St. John's University, The Juilliard School, Manhattan College, Adelphi University - Brooklyn, Mercy College (New York), The College of Mount Saint Vincent, Parsons School of Design, The New School, Pratt Institute, New York Film Academy, The School of Visual Arts, The King's College, Marymount Manhattan College, and Wagner College. Much of the scientific research in the city is done in medicine and the life sciences. In 2019, the New York metropolitan area ranked first on the list of cities and metropolitan areas by share of published articles in life sciences.[14] New York City has the most postgraduate life sciences degrees awarded annually in the United States, and in 2012, 43,523 licensed physicians were practicing in New York City.[432] There are 127 Nobel laureates with roots in local institutions as of 2004.[433] Major biomedical research institutions include Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Rockefeller University, SUNY Downstate Medical Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and Weill Cornell Medical College, being joined by the Cornell University/Technion-Israel Institute of Technology venture on Roosevelt Island. The graduates of SUNY Maritime College in the Bronx earned the highest average annual salary of any university graduates in the United States, $144,000 as of 2017.[434][importance?] Human resources Public health Main articles: New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation and New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene New York-Presbyterian Hospital, affiliated with Columbia University and Cornell University, is the largest hospital and largest private employer in New York City and one of the world's busiest hospitals.[435] The New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC) operates the public hospitals and outpatient clinics as a public benefit corporation. As of 2021, HHC is the largest municipal healthcare system in the United States with $10.9 billion in annual revenues,[436] HHC is the largest municipal healthcare system in the United States[repetition] serving 1.4 million patients, including more than 475,000 uninsured city residents.[437] HHC was created in 1969 by the New York State Legislature as a public benefit corporation (Chapter 1016 of the Laws 1969).[438][importance?] HHC operates 11 acute care hospitals, five nursing homes, six diagnostic and treatment centers, and more than 70 community-based primary care sites, serving primarily the poor and working class. HHC's MetroPlus Health Plan is one of the New York area's largest providers of government-sponsored health insurance and is the plan of choice for nearly half a million New Yorkers.[439][third-party source needed] HHC's facilities annually provide millions of New Yorkers services interpreted in more than 190 languages.[440] The most well-known hospital in the HHC system is Bellevue Hospital, the oldest public hospital in the United States. Bellevue is the designated hospital for treatment of the President of the United States and other world leaders if they become sick or injured while in New York City.[441] The president of HHC is Ramanathan Raju, MD, a surgeon and former CEO of the Cook County health system in Illinois.[442][importance?] In August 2017, Mayor Bill de Blasio signed legislation outlawing pharmacies from selling cigarettes once their existing licenses to do so expired, beginning in 2018.[443][needs update] New York City enforces a right-to-shelter law guaranteeing shelter to anyone who needs it, regardless of their immigration, socioeconomic, or housing status, which entails providing adequate shelter and food.[23] Public safety Police and law enforcement Main articles: New York City Police Department and Law enforcement in New York City Further information: Police surveillance in New York City and Crime in New York City The New York Police Department (NYPD), the largest police force in the United States NYPD police officers in Brooklyn The New York Police Department (NYPD) is the largest police force in the United States by a significant margin, with more than 35,000 sworn officers.[444] Members of the NYPD are frequently referred to by politicians, the media, and their own police cars by the nickname, New York's Finest. Crime overall has trended downward in New York City since the 1990s.[445] In 2012, the NYPD came under scrutiny for its stop-and-frisk program,[446][447][448] which has undergone several policy revisions since then.[citation needed] In 2014, New York City had the third-lowest murder rate among the largest U.S. cities,[449] having become significantly safer after a spike in crime in the 1970s through 1990s.[450] Violent crime in New York City decreased more than 75% from 1993 to 2005, and continued decreasing during periods when the nation as a whole saw increases.[451] By 2002, New York City was ranked 197th in crime among the 216 U.S. cities with populations greater than 100,000.[451] In 1992, the city recorded 2,245 murders.[452] In 2005, the homicide rate was at its lowest level since 1966,[453] and in 2009, the city recorded fewer than 461 homicides for the first time ever since crime statistics were first published in 1963.[452] New York City has stricter gun laws than most other cities in the U.S.—a license to own any firearm is required in New York City, and the NY SAFE Act of 2013 banned assault weapons—and New York State had the fifth lowest gun death rate of the states in 2020.[454] New York City recorded 491 murders in 2021.[455] Organized crime has long been associated with New York City, beginning with the Forty Thieves and the Roach Guards in the Five Points neighborhood in the 1820s, followed by the Tongs in the same neighborhood, which ultimately evolved into Chinatown, Manhattan. The 20th century saw a rise in the Mafia, dominated by the Five Families, as well as in gangs, including the Black Spades.[456] The Mafia and gang presence has declined in the city in the 21st century.[457][458] Firefighting Main article: New York City Fire Department The Fire Department of New York (FDNY), the largest municipal fire department in the United States The Fire Department of New York (FDNY) provides fire protection, technical rescue, primary response to biological, chemical, and radioactive hazards, and emergency medical services for the five boroughs of New York City. The FDNY is the largest municipal fire department in the United States and the second largest in the world after the Tokyo Fire Department.[citation needed] The FDNY employs approximately 11,080 uniformed firefighters and more than 3,300 uniformed EMTs and paramedics.[citation needed] The FDNY's motto is New York's Bravest. The fire department faces multifaceted firefighting challenges in many ways unique to New York. In addition to responding to building types that range from wood-frame single family homes to high-rise structures, the FDNY responds to fires that occur in the New York City Subway.[459] Secluded bridges and tunnels, as well as large parks and wooded areas that can give rise to brush fires, also present challenges. The FDNY is headquartered at 9 MetroTech Center in Downtown Brooklyn,[460] and the FDNY Fire Academy is on the Randalls Island.[461] There are three Bureau of Fire Communications alarm offices which receive and dispatch alarms to appropriate units. One office, at 11 Metrotech Center in Brooklyn, houses Manhattan/Citywide, Brooklyn, and Staten Island Fire Communications; the Bronx and Queens offices are in separate buildings.[importance?] Public library system The Stephen A. Schwarzman Headquarters Building of the New York Public Library at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street The New York Public Library (NYPL) has the largest collection of any public library system in the United States.[462] Queens is served by the Queens Borough Public Library (QPL), the nation's second-largest public library system, while the Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) serves Brooklyn.[462] Culture Main article: Culture of New York City Further information: LGBT culture in New York City, Music of New York City, List of nightclubs in New York City, List of LGBT people from New York City, List of people from New York City, New York Fashion Week, and Met Gala (from right to left) The John Golden Theatre, Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, and Booth Theatre on West 45th Street in Manhattan's Theater District New York City has been described as the cultural capital of the world.[463][464][465][466] In describing New York, author Tom Wolfe said, "Culture just seems to be in the air, like part of the weather."[467] The city is the birthplace of many cultural movements, including the Harlem Renaissance in literature and visual art;[468][469] abstract expressionism (known as the New York School) in painting; and hip-hop,[189][470] punk,[471] hardcore,[472] salsa, freestyle, Tin Pan Alley, certain forms of jazz,[473] and (along with Philadelphia) disco in music. New York City has been considered the dance capital of the world.[474][475] New York has long had a flourishing scene for Jewish American literature.[citation needed] The city is frequently the setting for novels, movies (see List of films set in New York City), and television programs. New York Fashion Week is one of the world's preeminent fashion events and is afforded extensive coverage by the media.[476][477] New York has frequently been ranked the top fashion capital of the world on the annual list compiled by the Global Language Monitor.[478] One of the most common traits attributed to New York City is its fast pace,[479][480][481] which spawned the term New York minute.[482] Journalist Walt Whitman characterized New York's streets as being traversed by "hurrying, feverish, electric crowds".[481] New York City's residents are prominently known for their resilience historically, and more recently related to their management of the impacts of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the COVID-19 pandemic.[483][484][485] New York was voted the world's most resilient city in 2021 and 2022 per Time Out's global poll of urban residents.[484] Arts Carnegie Hall New York City has more than 2,000 arts and cultural organizations and more than 500 art galleries.[486] The city government funds the arts with a larger annual budget than the National Endowment for the Arts.[486] Wealthy business magnates in the 19th century built a network of major cultural institutions, such as Carnegie Hall and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which have become internationally renowned. The advent of electric lighting led to elaborate theater productions,[citation needed] and in the 1880s, New York City theaters on Broadway and along 42nd Street began featuring a new stage form that became known as the Broadway musical. Strongly influenced by the city's immigrants, productions such as those of Harrigan and Hart, George M. Cohan, and others used song in narratives that often reflected themes of hope and ambition.[citation needed] New York City itself is the subject or background of many plays and musicals. Performing arts Main articles: Broadway theatre and Music of New York City The Lincoln Center houses internationally renowned performing arts organizations including the New York Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera, the New York City Ballet, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and the Juilliard School. Broadway theatre is one of the premier forms of English-language theatre in the world, named after Broadway, the major thoroughfare that crosses Times Square,[487] sometimes referred to as "The Great White Way".[488][489][490] Forty-one venues in Midtown Manhattan's Theatre District, each with at least 500 seats, are classified as Broadway theatres. According to The Broadway League, Broadway shows sold approximately $1.27 billion worth of tickets in the 2013–2014 season, an 11.4% increase from $1.139 billion in the 2012–2013 season. Attendance in 2013–2014 stood at 12.21 million, representing a 5.5% increase from the 2012–2013 season's 11.57 million.[491] Performance artists displaying diverse skills are ubiquitous on the streets of Manhattan.[citation needed] Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, anchoring Lincoln Square on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, is home to numerous influential arts organizations, including the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, New York Philharmonic, and New York City Ballet, as well as the Vivian Beaumont Theater, the Juilliard School, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and Alice Tully Hall. The Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute is in Union Square, and Tisch School of the Arts is based at New York University, while Central Park SummerStage presents free music concerts in Central Park.[492] Visual arts Main article: List of museums and cultural institutions in New York City The Metropolitan Museum of Art, part of Museum Mile, is one of the largest museums in the world.[493] New York City is home to hundreds of cultural institutions and historic sites. Museum Mile is the name for a section of Fifth Avenue running from 82nd to 105th streets on the Upper East Side of Manhattan,[494] in the upper portion of Carnegie Hill.[495] Nine museums occupy the length of this section of Fifth Avenue, making it one of the densest displays of culture in the world.[496] Its art museums include the Guggenheim, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Neue Galerie New York, and The Africa Center. In addition to other programming, the museums collaborate for the annual Museum Mile Festival, held each year in June, to promote the museums and increase visitation.[497] Many of the world's most lucrative art auctions are held in New York City.[498][499] Cuisine Main articles: Cuisine of New York City, List of restaurants in New York City, and List of Michelin starred restaurants in New York City People crowd around white tents in the foreground next to a red brick wall with arched windows. Above and to the left is a towering stone bridge. Smorgasburg, which opened in 2011 as an open-air food market, is part of the Brooklyn Flea.[500] New York City's food culture includes an array of international cuisines influenced by the city's immigrant history. Central and Eastern European immigrants, especially Jewish immigrants from those regions, brought bagels, cheesecake, hot dogs, knishes, and delicatessens (delis) to the city. Italian immigrants brought New York-style pizza and Italian cuisine into the city, while Jewish immigrants and Irish immigrants brought pastrami[501] and corned beef,[502] respectively. Chinese and other Asian restaurants, sandwich joints, trattorias, diners, and coffeehouses are ubiquitous throughout the city. Some 4,000 mobile food vendors licensed by the city, many immigrant-owned, have made Middle Eastern foods such as falafel and kebabs[503] examples of modern New York street food. The city is home to "nearly one thousand of the finest and most diverse haute cuisine restaurants in the world", according to Michelin.[504] The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene assigns letter grades to the city's restaurants based on inspection results.[505] As of 2019, there were 27,043 restaurants in the city, up from 24,865 in 2017.[506] The Queens Night Market in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park attracts more than ten thousand people nightly to sample food from more than 85 countries.[507] Parades The annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, the world's largest parade[508] The annual Halloween Parade in Greenwich Village, the world's largest Halloween parade[509] New York City is well known for its street parades, the majority held in Manhattan. The primary orientation of the annual street parades is typically from north to south, marching along major avenues. The annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is the world's largest parade,[508] beginning alongside Central Park[importance?] and proceeding southward to the flagship Macy's Herald Square store;[510] the parade is viewed on telecasts worldwide and draws millions of spectators in person.[508] Other notable parades including the annual New York City St. Patrick's Day Parade in March, the NYC LGBT Pride March in June, the LGBT-inspired Greenwich Village Halloween Parade in October, and numerous parades commemorating the independence days of many nations. Ticker-tape parades celebrating championships won by sports teams as well as other accomplishments march northward along the Canyon of Heroes on Broadway from Bowling Green to City Hall Park in Lower Manhattan. Accent and dialect Main articles: New York City English and New York accent The New York area is home to a distinctive regional accent and speech pattern called the New York dialect, alternatively known as Brooklynese or New Yorkese. It has been considered one of the most recognizable accents within American English.[511] The traditional New York area speech pattern is known for its rapid delivery, and its accent is characterized as non-rhotic so that the sound [ɹ] does not appear at the end of a syllable or immediately before a consonant, therefore the pronunciation of the city name as "New Yawk".[512] The classic version of the New York City dialect is centered on middle- and working-class New Yorkers. The influx of non-European immigrants in recent decades has led to changes in this distinctive dialect,[512] and the traditional form of this speech pattern is no longer as prevalent.[512] Sports Main article: Sports in the New York metropolitan area See also: Traditional games of New York City Three runners in a race down a street where onlookers are cheering behind barriers. The New York Marathon, held annually in November, is the largest marathon in the world.[513] A tennis stadium pack with fans watching a grass court. The U.S. Open Tennis Championships are held every August and September in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens. A baseball stadium from behind home plate in the evening. Citi Field, also in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, has been home to the New York Mets since 2009. Yankee Stadium in The Bronx is home to the New York Yankees and New York City FC. Madison Square Garden in Midtown Manhattan is home to the New York Knicks, New York Rangers, and St. John's Red Storm. Barclays Center, home to the Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association and the New York Liberty of the Women's National Basketball Association UBS Arena, home of the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League (NHL) New York City is home to the headquarters of the National Football League,[514] Major League Baseball,[515] the National Basketball Association,[516] the National Hockey League,[517] and Major League Soccer.[518] The New York metropolitan area hosts the most sports teams in the first four major North American professional sports leagues with nine, one more than Los Angeles, and has 11 top-level professional sports teams if Major League Soccer is included, one more than Los Angeles. Participation in professional sports in the city predates all professional leagues, as the New York Mutuals became one of the first professional baseball teams in 1869, two years before the organization of the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players, the first professional league, of which the Mutuals were founding members. The city has played host to more than 40 major professional teams in the five sports and their respective competing leagues. Four of the ten most expensive stadiums ever built worldwide (MetLife Stadium, the new Yankee Stadium, Madison Square Garden, and Citi Field) are in the New York metropolitan area.[519] Madison Square Garden, its predecessor, the original Yankee Stadium and Ebbets Field, are sporting venues in New York City, the latter two having been commemorated on U.S. postage stamps. New York was the first of eight American cities to have won titles in all four major leagues (MLB, NHL, NFL and NBA), having done so following the Knicks' 1970 title. In 1972, it became the first city to win titles in five sports when the Cosmos won the NASL final.[citation needed] American football The city is represented in the National Football League by the New York Giants and the New York Jets, although both teams play their home games at MetLife Stadium in nearby East Rutherford, New Jersey,[520] which hosted Super Bowl XLVIII in 2014.[521] Baseball New York has been described as the "Capital of Baseball".[522] There have been 35 Major League Baseball World Series and 73 pennants won by New York teams. It is one of only five metro areas to host two Major League Baseball teams, the others being Los Angeles, Chicago, Baltimore–Washington, and until the Athletics depart Oakland, California, the San Francisco Bay Area. Additionally, there have been 14 World Series in which two New York City teams played each other, known as a Subway Series and occurring most recently in 2000. No other metropolitan area has had this happen more than once (Chicago in 1906, St. Louis in 1944, and the San Francisco Bay Area in 1989).[citation needed] The city's two Major League Baseball teams are the New York Mets, who play at Citi Field in Queens,[523] and the New York Yankees, who play at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. These teams compete in six games of interleague play every regular season that has come to be called the Subway Series.[repetition] The Yankees have won a record 27 championships,[524] while the Mets have won the World Series twice.[525] The city was once home to the Brooklyn Dodgers (now the Los Angeles Dodgers), who won the World Series once,[526] and the New York Giants (now the San Francisco Giants), who won the World Series five times. Both teams moved to California in 1958.[527] There is one Minor League Baseball team in the city, the Mets-affiliated Brooklyn Cyclones,[528] and the city gained a club in the independent Atlantic League when the Staten Island FerryHawks began play in 2022.[529] Basketball The city's National Basketball Association teams are the Brooklyn Nets (previously known as the New York Nets and New Jersey Nets as they moved around the metropolitan area[importance?]) and the New York Knicks, while the New York Liberty is the city's Women's National Basketball Association team. The first national college-level basketball championship, the National Invitation Tournament, was held in New York in 1938 and remains in the city.[530] The city is well known for its links to basketball, which is played in nearly every park in the city by local youth, many of whom have gone on to play for major college programs and in the NBA.[citation needed] Ice hockey The metropolitan area is home to three National Hockey League teams. The New York Rangers, the traditional representative of the city itself and one of the league's Original Six, play at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan. The New York Islanders, traditionally representing Nassau and Suffolk Counties of Long Island, play in UBS Arena in Elmont, New York, and played in Brooklyn's Barclays Center from 2015 to 2020. The New Jersey Devils play at Prudential Center in nearby Newark, New Jersey and traditionally represent the counties of neighboring New Jersey which are coextensive with the boundaries of the New York metropolitan area and media market. Soccer Main article: Soccer in the New York metropolitan area In soccer, New York City is represented by New York City FC of Major League Soccer, who play their home games at Yankee Stadium[531] and the New York Red Bulls, who play their home games at Red Bull Arena in nearby Harrison, New Jersey.[532] NJ/NY Gotham FC plays their home games in Red Bull Arena, representing the metropolitan area in the National Women's Soccer League. Historically, the city is known for the New York Cosmos, the highly successful former professional soccer team which was the American home of Pelé.[citation needed] A new version of the New York Cosmos was formed in 2010, and most recently played in the third-division National Independent Soccer Association before going on hiatus in January 2021. New York was a host city for the 1994 FIFA World Cup[533] and will be one of eleven US host cities for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.[534] Tennis and other The annual United States Open Tennis Championships is one of the world's four Grand Slam tennis tournaments and is held at the National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, Queens.[535] The New York City Marathon, which courses through all five boroughs, is the world's largest running marathon,[513] with 51,394 finishers in 2016[536] and 98,247 applicants for the 2017 race.[513][needs update] The Millrose Games is an annual track and field meet whose featured event is the Wanamaker Mile. Boxing is a prominent part of the city's sporting scene, with events like the Amateur Boxing Golden Gloves being held at Madison Square Garden each year.[537][failed verification] The city is considered the host of the Belmont Stakes, the last, longest and oldest of horse racing's Triple Crown races, held just over the city's border at Belmont Park. The city hosted the 1932 U.S. Open golf tournament and the 1930 and 1939 PGA Championships, and has hosted both events several times, most notably[citation needed] for nearby Winged Foot Golf Club. The Gaelic games are played in Riverdale, Bronx at Gaelic Park, home to the New York GAA, the only North American team to compete at the senior inter-county level.[citation needed] International events New York City hosted the 1984 Summer Paralympics and the 1998 Goodwill Games. New York City's bid to host the 2012 Summer Olympics was one of five finalists, but lost out to London.[538][importance?] Environment Main article: Environmental issues in New York City Two yellow taxis on a narrow street lined with shops. As of 2012, New York City had about 6,000 hybrid taxis in service, the largest number of any city in North America.[539] Environmental issues in New York City are affected by the city's size, density, abundant public transportation infrastructure, and its location at the mouth of the Hudson River. For example, it is one of the country's biggest sources of pollution and has the lowest per-capita greenhouse gas emissions rate and electricity usage. Governors Island is planned to host a US$1 billion research and education center to make New York City the global leader in addressing the climate crisis.[540] Environmental impact reduction Sunset Park Material Recovery Facility at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal in the Sunset Park As an oceanic port city, New York City is vulnerable to the long-term manifestations of global warming and rising seas. Climate change has spawned the development of a significant climate resiliency and environmental sustainability economy in the city. Governors Island is slated to host a US$1 billion research and education center intended to establish New York's role as the global leader in addressing the climate crisis.[541] New York City has focused on reducing its environmental impact and carbon footprint.[542] Mass transit use in New York City is the highest in the United States. Also, by 2010, the city had 3,715 hybrid taxis and other clean diesel vehicles, representing around 28% of New York's taxi fleet in service, the most of any city in North America.[543] New York City is the host of Climate Week NYC, the largest Climate Week to take place globally and regarded as major annual climate summit.[citation needed] New York's high rate of public transit use, more than 200,000 daily cyclists as of 2014,[544] and many pedestrian commuters make it the most energy-efficient major city in the United States.[545] Walk and bicycle modes of travel account for 21% of all modes for trips in the city; nationally the rate for metro regions is about 8%.[546] In both its 2011 and 2015 rankings, Walk Score named New York City the most walkable large city in the United States,[547][548][549] and in 2018, Stacker ranked New York the most walkable U.S. city.[550] Citibank sponsored public bicycles for the city's bike-share project, which became known as Citi Bike, in 2013.[551] New York City's numerical "in-season cycling indicator" of bicycling in the city had hit an all-time high of 437 when measured in 2014.[552] The city government was a petitioner in the landmark Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency Supreme Court case forcing the EPA to regulate greenhouse gases as pollutants.[citation needed] The city is a leader in the construction of energy-efficient green office buildings, including the Hearst Tower among others.[197] Mayor Bill de Blasio has committed to an 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions between 2014 and 2050 to reduce the city's contributions to climate change, beginning with a comprehensive "Green Buildings" plan.[542] Water purity and availability Main articles: Food and water in New York City and New York City water supply system Ridgewood Reservoir on the border between the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, within what is now Highland Park The New York City drinking water supply is extracted from the protected Catskill Mountains watershed.[553] As a result of the watershed's integrity and undisturbed natural water filtration system, New York is one of only four major cities in the United States the majority of whose drinking water is pure enough not to require purification through water treatment plants.[554] The city's municipal water system is the largest in the United States, moving over one billion gallons of water per day;[555] a leak in the Delaware aqueduct results in some 20 million gallons a day being lost under the Hudson River.[556] The Croton Watershed north of the city is undergoing construction of a $3.2 billion water purification plant to augment New York City's water supply by an estimated 290 million gallons daily, representing a greater than 20% addition to the city's current availability of water.[557] The ongoing expansion of New York City Water Tunnel No. 3, an integral part of the New York City water supply system, is the largest capital construction project in the city's history,[558] with segments serving Manhattan and the Bronx completed, and with segments serving Brooklyn and Queens planned for construction in 2020.[559][needs update] In 2018, New York City announced a $1 billion investment to protect the integrity of its water system and to maintain the purity of its unfiltered water supply.[555] Air quality According to the 2016 World Health Organization Global Urban Ambient Air Pollution Database,[560] the annual average concentration in New York City's air of particulate matter measuring 2.5 micrometers or less (PM2.5) was 7.0 micrograms per cubic meter, or 3.0 micrograms within the recommended limit of the WHO Air Quality Guidelines for the annual mean PM2.5.[561] The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, in partnership with Queens College, conducts the New York Community Air Survey to measure pollutants at about 150 locations.[562] Environmental revitalization Newtown Creek, a 3.5-mile (6-kilometer) a long estuary that forms part of the border between the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, is designated a Superfund site for environmental clean-up and remediation of the waterway's recreational and economic resources for many communities.[563] One of the most heavily used bodies of water in the Port of New York and New Jersey, it had been one of the most contaminated industrial sites in the country,[564] containing years of discarded toxins, an estimated 30 million US gallons (110,000 m3) of spilled oil, including the Greenpoint oil spill, raw sewage from New York City's sewer system,[564] and other accumulation. Government and politics Main articles: Government of New York City, Politics of New York City, and Elections in New York City Government New York City Hall is the oldest City Hall in the United States that still houses its original governmental functions.[citation needed] New York County Courthouse houses the New York Supreme Court and other governmental offices. New York City has been a metropolitan municipality with a Strong mayor–council form of government[565] since its consolidation in 1898. The city government is responsible for public education, correctional institutions, public safety, recreational facilities, sanitation, water supply, and welfare services. The City Council is a unicameral body of 51 council members whose districts are defined by geographic population boundaries.[566] Each term for the mayor and council members lasts four years and has a two consecutive-term limit,[567] which is reset after a four-year break. The New York City Administrative Code, the New York City Rules, and the City Record are the code of local laws, compilation of regulations, and official journal, respectively.[568][569] Each borough is coextensive with a judicial district of the state Unified Court System, of which the Criminal Court and the Civil Court are the local courts, while the New York Supreme Court conducts major trials and appeals. Manhattan hosts the First Department of the Supreme Court, Appellate Division while Brooklyn hosts the Second Department. There are several extrajudicial administrative courts, which are executive agencies and not part of the state Unified Court System. Uniquely among major American cities,[citation needed] New York is divided between, and is host to the main branches of, two different U.S. district courts: the District Court for the Southern District of New York, whose main courthouse is on Foley Square near City Hall in Manhattan and whose jurisdiction includes Manhattan and the Bronx; and the District Court for the Eastern District of New York, whose main courthouse is in Brooklyn and whose jurisdiction includes Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and U.S. Court of International Trade are based in New York, also on Foley Square in Manhattan. Politics Eric Adams, the current Mayor of New York City The present mayor is Eric Adams. He was elected in 2021 with 67% of the vote, and assumed office on January 1, 2022. The Democratic Party holds the majority of public offices. As of April 2016, 69% of registered voters in the city are Democrats and 10% are Republicans.[570] New York City has not been carried by a Republican presidential election since President Calvin Coolidge won the five boroughs in 1924. A Republican candidate for statewide office has not won all five boroughs of the city since it was incorporated in 1898. In 2012, Democrat Barack Obama became the first presidential candidate of any party to receive more than 80% of the overall vote in New York City, sweeping all five boroughs.[importance?] Party platforms center on affordable housing, education, and economic development, and labor politics are of importance in the city.[citation needed] Thirteen out of 26 U.S. congressional districts in the state of New York include portions of New York City.[571] New York City is the most important geographical source of political fundraising in the United States. At least four of the top five ZIP Codes in the nation for political contributions were in Manhattan for the 2004, 2006, and 2008 elections. The top ZIP Code, 10021 on the Upper East Side, generated the most money for the 2004 presidential campaigns of George W. Bush and John Kerry.[572][excessive detail?] The city has a strong imbalance of payments with the national and state governments. It receives 83 cents in services for every $1 it sends to the federal government in taxes (or annually sends $11.4 billion more than it receives back). City residents and businesses also sent an additional $4.1 billion in the 2009–2010 fiscal year to the state of New York than the city received in return.[573] Transportation Main article: Transportation in New York City Rapid transit Port Authority Bus Terminal, the world's busiest bus station, at Eighth Avenue and 42nd Street[574] Mass transit in New York City, most of which runs 24 hours a day, accounts for one in every three users of mass transit in the United States, and two-thirds of the nation's rail riders live in the New York City metropolitan area.[575][576] Buses New York City's public bus fleet runs 24/7 and is the largest in North America.[577] The Port Authority Bus Terminal, the main intercity bus terminal of the city, serves 7,000 buses and 200,000 commuters daily, making it the busiest bus station in the world.[574] Rail Main article: New York City Subway A row of yellow taxis in front of a multi-story ornate stone building with three huge arched windows. New York City is home to the two busiest train stations in the U.S., Grand Central Terminal (pictured) and Penn Station. The front end of a subway train, with a red E on a LED display on the top. To the right of the train is a platform with a group of people waiting for their train. The New York City Subway, the world's largest rapid transit system by number of stations The New York City Subway system is the largest rapid transit system in the world when measured by stations in operation, with 472, and by length of routes. Nearly all of New York's subway system is open 24 hours a day, in contrast to the overnight shutdown common to systems in most cities.[578] The New York City Subway is the busiest metropolitan rail transit system in the Western Hemisphere,[579] with 1.70 billion passenger rides in 2019,[580] while Grand Central Terminal, referred to as "Grand Central Station", is the world's largest railway station by number of train platforms.[581] Public transport is widely used in New York City. 54.6% of New Yorkers commuted to work in 2005 using mass transit.[582] This is in contrast to the rest of the United States, where 91% of commuters travel in automobiles to their workplace.[583] According to the New York City Comptroller, workers in the New York City area spend an average of 6 hours and 18 minutes getting to work each week, the longest commute time in the nation among large cities.[584] New York is the only U.S. city in which a majority (52%) of households do not have a car; only 22% of Manhattanites own a car.[585] Due to their high usage of mass transit, New Yorkers spend less of their household income on transportation than the national average, saving $19 billion annually on transportation compared to other urban Americans.[586] New York City's commuter rail network is the largest in North America.[575] The rail network, connecting New York City to its suburbs, consists of the Long Island Rail Road, Metro-North Railroad, and New Jersey Transit. The combined systems converge at Grand Central Terminal and Pennsylvania Station and contain more than 250 stations and 20 rail lines.[575] For 24 hours a day, the elevated AirTrain system in Queens connects JFK International Airport to the New York City Subway and the Long Island Rail Road; a separate AirTrain system is planned alongside the Grand Central Parkway to connect LaGuardia Airport to these transit systems.[587][588] For inter-city rail, New York City is served by Amtrak, whose busiest station by a significant margin is Pennsylvania Station on the West Side of Manhattan, from which Amtrak provides connections to Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. along the Northeast Corridor, and long-distance train service to other North American cities.[589] The Staten Island Railway rapid transit system solely serves Staten Island, operating 24 hours a day. The Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH train) links Midtown and Lower Manhattan to northeastern New Jersey. Like the New York City Subway, the PATH operates 24 hours a day; meaning three of the six rapid transit systems in the world which operate on 24-hour schedules are wholly or partly in New York (the others are a portion of the Chicago "L", the PATCO Speedline serving Philadelphia, and the Copenhagen Metro).[590][591] Multibillion-dollar heavy rail transit projects under construction in New York City include the Second Avenue Subway.[592] Air Main article: Aviation in the New York metropolitan area John F. Kennedy Airport in Queens New York's airspace is the busiest in the United States and one of the world's busiest air transportation corridors. The three busiest airports in the New York metropolitan area include John F. Kennedy International Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport, and LaGuardia Airport; 130.5 million travelers used these three airports in 2016.[593] JFK and Newark Liberty were the busiest and fourth busiest U.S. gateways for international air passengers, respectively, in 2012; as of 2011, JFK was the busiest airport for international passengers in North America.[594] Plans have advanced to expand passenger volume at a fourth airport, Stewart International Airport near Newburgh, New York, by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.[595] Plans were announced in July 2015 to entirely rebuild LaGuardia Airport in a multibillion-dollar project to replace its aging facilities[needs update].[596] Other commercial airports in or serving the New York metropolitan area include Long Island MacArthur Airport, Trenton–Mercer Airport and Westchester County Airport. The primary general aviation airport serving the area is Teterboro Airport. Ferries, taxis and trams Main articles: Staten Island Ferry, NYC Ferry, Taxis of New York City, and Roosevelt Island Tramway The Staten Island Ferry shuttles commuters between Manhattan and Staten Island. The Staten Island Ferry is the world's busiest ferry route, carrying more than 23 million passengers from July 2015 through June 2016 on a 5.2-mile (8.4 km) route between Staten Island and Lower Manhattan and running 24/7.[597][598] Other ferry systems shuttle commuters between Manhattan and other locales within the city and the metropolitan area. NYC Ferry, a NYCEDC initiative with routes planned to travel to all five boroughs, was launched in 2017.[599] Other features of the city's transportation infrastructure encompass 13,587 yellow taxicabs;[600] other vehicle for hire companies;[601][602] and the Roosevelt Island Tramway, an aerial tramway that transports commuters between Roosevelt Island and Manhattan Island. Cycling network Main article: Cycling in New York City Citi Bike bike share service, which started in May 2013 New York City has mixed cycling conditions that include urban density, relatively flat terrain, congested roadways with stop-and-go traffic, and many pedestrians. The city's large cycling population includes utility cyclists, such as delivery and messenger services; recreational cycling clubs; and an increasing number of commuters. Cycling is increasingly popular in New York City; in 2017 there were approximately 450,000 daily bike trips, compared with 170,000 in 2005.[603] As of 2017, New York City had 1,333 miles (2,145 km) of bike lanes, compared to 513 miles (826 km) in 2006.[603] As of 2019, there are 126 miles (203 km) of segregated or "protected" bike lanes citywide.[604] Streets and highways Further information: Commissioners' Plan of 1811 The Commissioners' Plan of 1811 put in place the rectangular grid plan of the streets of Manhattan Streets are also a defining feature of the city. The Commissioners' Plan of 1811 greatly influenced its physical development. Several streets and avenues, including Broadway,[605] Wall Street,[606] Madison Avenue,[359] and Seventh Avenue are used as metonyms for national industries: theater, finance, advertising, and fashion, respectively. New York City has an extensive web of freeways and parkways, which link the city's boroughs to each other and to North Jersey, Westchester County, Long Island, and southwestern Connecticut through bridges and tunnels. Because these highways serve millions of outer borough and suburban residents who commute into Manhattan, it is common for motorists to be stranded for hours in traffic congestion that are a daily occurrence, particularly during rush hour.[607][608] Congestion pricing in New York City will go into effect in 2022 at the earliest[needs update].[609][610][611] Unlike the rest of the United States, New York State prohibits right or left turns on red in cities with a population greater than one million, to reduce traffic collisions and increase pedestrian safety. In New York City, therefore, all turns at red lights are illegal unless a sign permitting such maneuvers is present.[612] River crossings Further information: List of bridges and tunnels in New York City Manhattan and Staten Island are primarily coterminous with islands of the same names, while Queens and Brooklyn are at the west end of the larger Long Island, and the Bronx is on New York State's mainland. Manhattan Island is linked to New York City's outer boroughs and to New Jersey by an extensive network of bridges and tunnels. Bridges The George Washington Bridge, across the Hudson River, is the world's busiest motor vehicle bridge.[613][614] The 14-lane George Washington Bridge, connecting Manhattan to New Jersey across the Hudson River, is the world's busiest motor vehicle bridge.[613][614] The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, spanning the Narrows between Brooklyn and Staten Island, is the longest suspension bridge in the Americas and one of the world's longest.[615][616] The Brooklyn Bridge, with its stone neo-Gothic suspension towers, is an icon of the city itself; opened in 1883, it was the first steel-wire suspension bridge and was the longest suspension bridge in the world until 1903.[617][618] The Queensboro Bridge "was the longest cantilever span in North America" from 1909 to 1917.[619] The Manhattan Bridge, opened in 1909, "is considered to be the forerunner of modern suspension bridges", and its design "served as the model for the major long-span suspension bridges" of the early 20th century.[620] The Throgs Neck Bridge and Whitestone Bridge connect Queens and the Bronx, while the Triborough Bridge connects the three boroughs of Manhattan, Queens, and the Bronx. Tunnels Lincoln Tunnel The Lincoln Tunnel, which carries 120,000 vehicles a day under the Hudson River between New Jersey and Midtown Manhattan, is the busiest vehicular tunnel in the world.[621] The tunnel was built instead of a bridge to allow unfettered passage of large passenger and cargo ships that sailed through New York Harbor and up the Hudson River to Manhattan's piers. The Holland Tunnel, connecting Lower Manhattan to Jersey City, New Jersey, was the first mechanically ventilated vehicular tunnel when it opened in 1927.[622][623] The Queens–Midtown Tunnel, built to relieve congestion on the bridges connecting Manhattan with Queens and Brooklyn, was the largest non-federal project in its time when it was completed in 1940.[624] The Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel (officially known as the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel) runs underneath Battery Park and connects the Financial District in Lower Manhattan to Red Hook in Brooklyn.
  • Framing: Framed
  • Type: Metal
  • Subject: Art

PicClick Insights - Muhammad African American Art Nation Of Islam Framed 22X26 Exceediingly Rare PicClick Exclusive

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