Little X: Growing Up In The Nation Of Islam

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 256 pages
• Published by: Univ Tennessee Press January 3, 2005
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 1572333642
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-1572333642
• Book Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.6 x 0.7 inches
• Weighs: 13.4 ounces

Product Review
Her grandparents joined the Nation of Islam in 1952, which makes Sonsyrea Tate a third-generation member of the Nation. In this fascinating glimpse at life behind the scenes in an NOI family, Tate tells of going to a Muslim school, of the changes in the Nation after the death of its leader, Elijah Muhammad, and of the tensions within her family after her mother converted to Orthodox Islam. For all that it is a profoundly interesting account of growing up in a different culture, in the end Tate's is a quintessentially American story of a child coming of age and finding her own path. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly
Freelance journalist Tate has fashioned a female coming-of-age autobiography that unveils life in the Black Muslim sect of the 1960s and '70s. She begins with a brief survey of her grandparents' involvement with Elijah Muhammad's Nation of Islam. Heeding this self-proclaimed prophet's call to a life of dedicated discipline, her elders, and later her mother, embark on a religious journey through black society in Washington, D.C. At first, the demand for dignity, respect for education and pride in black achievements spur these converts from traditional black churches to new awareness and contentment. As the author details her adolescence, moving from the rigors of the Black Muslim school to the laissez-faire world of public education, we see a young lady standing with one foot in a misunderstood, restrictive parochial world, and one foot about to set down in the alluringly wide-open, but dangerous, secular world. Tate is at her best in describing the two strongest influences in her life, her mother and grandmother: Both strong women engaged in spiritual quests, they lovingly guide, chide and instruct Tate through the straits of youth. A temperate and sympathetic treatment of an African American family's religious evolution, this is not a sensational expose of the Nation of Islam. While Tate's journalistic style sometimes goes flat, her insights and reminiscences, drawn against a backdrop of dramatic public events, hold the reader's interest. $40,000 ad/promo; author tour.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Reader Reviews
This review is from: Little X: Growing Up in the Nation of Islam (Hardcover) Ms. Tate writes about her experiences growing up in the Nation of Islam (NOI). She discusses her bizarre education at the Nation of Islam school and her difficult adjustment to the public school system after the NOI school was shut down. In a span of several years she listens as the adults around her complain that the leaders of the NOI are not following their own rules (and there are a LOT of rules). Then she discovers that her parents are also not following the rules; they have a stash of marijuana in their bedroom, which she steals and smokes several times per day. She describes her mother's movement from NOI, to orthodox islam, and finally to the Church of Scientology. Unfortunately the book is repetitive and there are many statements that you will read twice. I don't know where the editor was on this one. This book is written in an adolescent voice and actually reminds me a lot of another memoir: "Red Scarf Girl" by Ji-Li Jiang (about the Chinese Cultural Revolution). A good book for teens and pre-teens.