Can someone explain to me how black Americans became interested in Islam?  I know many black celebrities from the 60s and 70s converted to a black version of Islam (ex. Cassius Clay --&gt; Muhammed Ali). But why? Was it a protest of sorts to a white Christian America? The vast majority of the Black slaves that were brought to the Americas were from West-Africa. The West-African Blacks had had much contact with Islamic Berbers and Arabs over the years and had adopted many aspects of their culture, one such aspect is a stringed instrument that would undergo some changes and improvements at the hands of a White man in America and become the banjo:D Another aspect was that many of them adopted Islamic styles of dress and also were converted to Islam. Most of the West-African slaves that were brought to the Americas were either Muslims or followers of West-African Vodun aka Voodoo!:eek:    So beginning in the mid-late 1960s during the Civil Rights(anti-Whites) movement in America, many Blacks wanted to get reacquainted with their African heritage which they had long since been detached from. Some of the Black radicals viewed Christianity as something foreign to them because it was basically forced upon them by their perceived White oppressors in America. They wanted to return to Islam because they seen it as the original religion of many of their West-African ancestors before they were forced to convert to Christianity by the White man. They wanted to assert their Africaness so they converted to Islam, they changed their Westernized (White) names to an African or Islamic name, started dressing in African and Islamic clothing styles, they became less interested in American music styles like Blues and Jazz because they were too Westernized aka White influenced, they became interested in authentic African music, they lost interest in Blues and Jazz and started listening to and playing stuff that sounded more Black, Funk, Soul, Reggae, Hip-Hop, Afro-Beat, etc...     Why they chose Islam which had been introduced to them by Caucasoid Berbers and Arabs in the first place and not the more indigenous West-African Vodun(Voodoo), I don't know. But I guess I should be glad they didn't all go voodoo on us. Yikes:eek: