Muhammad Speaks: Vol. 4, No. 24
The official journal of the Nation of Islam founded in 1962 by Elijah Muhammad, a significant artifact of the Black Power movement which is still in circulation today as the Muslim Journal, after numerous renamings and offshoots following the assassination of Malcolm X. “Dedicated to Freedom, Justice, and Equality for the so-called Negro. The Earth Belongs to Allah.”
Volume 4, Number 24 focuses largely on job scarcity, hunger, and the economy, the cover illustration declaring “Muhammad’s Mosque of Islam 3-Year Economic Program Which Will Help All of Our People in General Against Poverty & Want.”
From our 2016 exhibition Realize Your Desires, of which this work was a part: “Following the landmark Supreme Court decision of 1966 which allowed a more tolerant legal climate for publishers, the ‘Underground Press’ emerged as a site for radical commentary and critique in the US, progressing a number of social movements and shifting the cultural landscape at large. Usually published as weeklies – often in large editions – these publications provided a vibrant space for revolutionary ideas which played out on all fronts of politics and culture, addressing head-on a host of issues including the anti-war movement, black power movement, women’s liberation, gay rights, sexual liberation, and drug culture.”