'A nation can rise no higher than its women': The critical role of Black Muslim women in the development and purveyance of Black consciousness, 1945--1975.

摘要

During the era of Black consciousness from 1945 to 1975, the Nation of Islam was a major sociopolitical, economic, and educational force in Black communities throughout the United States. It was this period, Black Muslim women worked hard to actualize the Nation of Islam's self-help initiatives that would result in independent institutions "by," "for" and "about" Black people. Ironically, although these women were a part of one of the most unique and far-reaching communities throughout the era of Black consciousness, scholars of various disciplines have consistently marginalized and overlooked the critical achievements and activism of these women from the historiography. Though Nation women demonstrated considerable agency and made tremendous contributions to the positive development of the Black community, particularly in family, gender relations, community life, business and educational institutions, and even the independent Black school movement of the 1970s, they have not been acknowledged as important within the American historical annals. Consequently, this dissertation is descriptive and in many ways corrective as it explores Nation women as purveyors of Black consciousness post-World War II.