"How the circuses, dance halls, and midways of the Gilded Age provided the cultural ferment and freedom that led to the creation of the Black Muslim movement in America"-- Provided by publisher.

Dorman tells the story of the Black Broadway performer who discovered in Islam a greater measure of freedom and dignity, and a rebuttal to the racism and parochialism of white America. Walter Brister, with the help of his wife, a former lion tamer and "Hindoo" magician herself, renamed himself Prophet Noble Drew Ali and founded the predecessor of the Nation of Islam, the Moorish Science Temple of America, in the 1920s. The couple and their "Moors" built a nationwide following of thousands of dues-paying members, swung Chicago elections, and embedded themselves in Chicago's dominant Republican political machine at the height of Prohibition racketeering, only to see their sect descend into infighting in 1929 that likely claimed the prophet's life--Adapted from book jacket.