when the word is given.... - A Report on Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X, and The Black Muslim World by Lomax, Louis E - 1964

New York: New American Library - A Signet Book, 1964. 192 Pages Indexed. Signet #P2429. February 1964 First Printing Edition. Illustrated with black and white photographs and word-for-word transcript of speeches. Well-read but not abused book with some cover edge and corner wear. Light corner crease on front cover. Red page edges. Book is square and pages are reasonably tight and white. A growing number of American Negroes believe that integration is wrong, that the black man is sacred and superior, that the Negro is destined to inherit the earth. The Black Muslim movement has produced a Negro who is alienated, militant, unforgiving. A Negro who wants to segregate, who desires no part of the white world, who is strengthened in this position by his consuming racial pride and his sense of destiny. Why do the Black Muslims take no part in the Negro Revolt? What is their relationship to Islam? Who is Elijah Muhammad and how did he come to power? What does Malcolm X hope to accomplish with his incendiary hate-the-white speeches? Writing from a thorough knowledge of Black Muslim groups, Louis E. Lomax examines the entire movement-from its beginnings under its mysterious founder, W. D. Fard, to its present position (1964) as an explosive power on the racial scene. An important part of the book is devoted to the speeches of Malcolm X and Elijah Muhammad. Recruited from the ranks of the criminal and destitute, the Black Muslims have become a sternly moral and self-respecting people. Their indictment of White America cannot be denied. They are a chilling example of what can happen when the Negro learns to hate. . First Printing Stated. Mass Market. Good.