Othello's Children in the New World: Moorish History and Identity in the African American Experience - Paperback

"In the early decades of the 20th century, a North Carolinian named Timothy Drew established a political and religious organization known today as the Moorish Science Temple of America Inc (M.S.T.A.). Later referred to as 'Prophet' Noble Drew Ali, he would teach the so-called 'Negro' ('Black') public of the 1910s and '20s that they were specifically 'Moors,' and that they needed to publicly declare their Moorish nationality and Islamic faith. Drew Ali insisted upon the designation of 'Moor,' while relatively few of his contemporaries understood or appreciated the logic of placing such emphasis upon a 'Moorish' nationality. With the exception of Shakespeare's fictional 'Othello,' few 'mainstream' Americans knew anything of consequence concerning 'Moors' in any Western society. But before his passing in 1929, Ali's Moorish Science Temples would expose 'Negro' Americans to historical information connecting them to a 'Moorish' identity. Using primarily a historical methodology and drawing directly from M.S.T.A. literature, this work explores the key postulates of the Moorish Science Temple movement"--Amazon.co