This book comes at a time when the American race issue seems at a climax. Disturbing though it may be, it is encouraging that such a book as this can be written, that a group like the Black Muslims not only lives among us but that it can be investigated and studied. This means that at long last we are about to become honest about the race question. Negroes are saying what they think; white people are pausing to listen. These are the prerequisites of dialogue in a free society, and I predict that on the whole the Black Muslims will have a healthy influence on our social structure.

I know white people are frightened by Malcolm X and Elijah Muhammad; maybe now they will understand how I have felt all my life, for there has never been a day when I was unafraid; we Negroes live our lives on the edge of fear, not knowing when or how the serpent of discrimination will strike and deprive us of something dear—a job here, a house there, an evening out over there, or a life itself. But things are better now than they once were; I am convinced they will soon be better than they are now. I am optimistic because I feel Negroes are now determined to better their lot; I believe we will win because there is every evidence that white people are beginning to yield some of their power, and that—power—is what the argument is really about.

I have drawn on a spate of newspaper articles for this manuscript. I must give particular thanks to my friends Alex Haley and C. Eric Lincoln, Professor of Social Relations, Clark College, Atlanta. Haley’s article on the Muslims and his unpublished notes were of immense help; Lincoln’s book, The Black Muslims in America, is the definitive work on the followers of Elijah Muhammad and it was my bible as I tried first to understand and then to portray the Black Muslims. Dr. Lincoln and I shared research when he was preparing his fine work, and he has most graciously given me his consent to draw freely from his material, particularly that related to the origins and early history of the movement.

Thanks to Ann Westbay and Frances Hannah for their work as typists. Both of them also served as valuable critics as the manuscript took shape; for this additional service I owe them much appreciation.

Most of all I am indebted to the Black Muslims themselves. For more than four years, now, they have tolerated my questions and presence, knowing that I differ with them on many issues. Without their permission, over the years, this kind of book would have been impossible.

The summer of 1963 saw the Negro Revolt move into full view; it also saw the Black Muslims reach an almost incredible peak of public concern and notice. The intent of this work is to provide information and insight as companions to that concern. For correct information is the ultimate weapon of freedom. Even so, there are unpleasant and chilling things in this book. The Black Muslims—for some—are an unpleasant and chilling people, but freedom includes the right to be chilling, and the Black Muslims have no monopoly on unpleasantness.

In reality, Western man is on trial in this book. Without the failings of Western society, the Black Muslims could not have come into being; without the continued failings of our society, the Black Muslims cannot endure. Here, then, Western white man, is a bitter pill. Do with it as you see fit.

Louis E. Lomax

St. Albans, New York
July, 1963