Early Studies in Black Nationalism, Cults, and Churches in Chicago: Works Progress Administration Papers

The following is the first collection of the WPA Papers that deal with Islam and Black Nationalism. These papers primarily deal with Chicago and were written under the auspices of the Black Historical & Benevolent Society called the Julius Rosenwald Fund. This fund was under the direction of the Illinois Writer?s Project. Writer such as Arthur Huff Fauset, Jessie Fauset, Richard Wright, Zora Neal Hurston, Lillian Harper, and Arna Bontemps had poetry, sociological studies, and short stories written under direction of the IWP. Julius Rosenwald was a Jewish philanthropist that set up a fund before his death to give scholarships to blacks for school and to pay to collect materials on Black history and culture. The butler of Rosenwald went on to become a precinct captain and later a leader in the Moorish Science Temple. All the groups covered in these studies had connections with each other. Elijah Muhammad called Marcus Garvey and Noble Drew Ali ?fine Muslims? and encouraged their followers to follow him as he was only ?completing their mission?. The studies here were done by Lillian Harper and Arna Bontemps. An appendix gives short notes on the leaders of the various groups and a bibliography gives books and articles to lead researchers to more material.