On the Side of My People: A Religious Life of Malcolm X

by Jr. Louis DeCaro

Publisher:

NYU Press

, 2023

“A groundbreaking study of Malcolm’s relationship to Islam . . . This is the best, most thorough account we have of Malcolm X as a religious leader.” —Publishers Weekly
 
In On the Side of My People, Louis A. DeCaro, Jr. offers the first book length religious treatment of Malcolm X. Malcolm X was certainly a political man. Yet he was also a man of Allah, struggling with his salvation—as concerned with redemption as with revolution.

Drawing on a wide variety of sources, including extensive interviews with Malcolm’s oldest brother, FBI surveillance documents, the black press, and tape-recorded speeches and interviews, DeCaro examines the charismatic leader from the standpoint of his two conversion experiences—to the Nation while he was in jail and to traditional Islam climaxing in his pilgrimage to Mecca. Examining Malcolm beyond his well-known years as spokesman for the Nation, On the Side My People explores Malcolm’s early religious training and the influence of his Garveyite parents, his relationship with Elijah Muhammad, his often overlooked journey to Africa in 1959, and his life as a traditional Muslim after the 1964 pilgrimage. In his critical analysis of The Autobiography of Malcolm X, DeCaro provides insight into the motivation behind Malcolm’s own story, offering a key to understanding how and why Malcolm portrayed his life in his own autobiography as told to Alex Haley. Inspiring and necessary, On the Side My People presents readers with a Malcolm X few were privileged to know. By filling in the gaps of Malcolm’s life, DeCaro paints a more complete portrait of one of the most powerful and relevant civil rights figures in American history.

Product Details

• Title: On the Side of My People: A Religious Life of Malcolm X
• Author: Jr. Louis DeCaro
• Publisher: NYU Press
• Print Publication Date: 2023
• Logos Release Date: 2024
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Ebook
• ISBNs: 9780814744178, 9780814718919, 0814718914, 0814744176
• Resource ID: LLS:9780814744178
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2024-04-11T11:55:42Z

About Louis DeCaro, Jr.

Louis DeCaro, Jr., associate professor of history at The Alliance Theological Seminary in New York City, is the author of Fire from the Midst of You: A Religious Life of John Brown (2002) as well as works on Malcolm X and the urban church.