Little X: Growing Up In The Nation Of Islam

by Sonsyrea Tate

In Little X , Sonsyrea Tate reveals, through the acute vision and engaging voice of a curious child, the practices and policies of the mysterious organization most know only through media portrayals of its controversial leaders Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X, and Louis Farrakhan. First published in 1997, Little X chronicles the multigenerational experience of Tate's family, who broke from the traditional black church in the 1950s to join the radical Nation of Islam, then struggled to remain intact through disillusionment, shifting loyalties, and forays into Orthodox Islam.

Little X is also an absorbing story of a little girl whose strict Muslim education filled her with pride, confidence, and a longing for freedom, of a teenager in an ankle-length dress and headwrap struggling to fit in with non-Muslim peers, and of a young woman whose growing disillusionment with the Nation finally led to her break with the Muslim religion. Little X offers a rare glimpse into the everyday experience of the Nation of Islam, and into a little-understood part of America's history and heritage.

Sonsyrea Tate-Montgomery has been a staff writer for the Virginian Pilot, Chicago Tribune, and the Washington Post . The recipient of four coveted Echoes of Excellence awards from the National Association of Black Journalists, Tate has also worked as assistant to Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton. She currently works as a political reporter for The Gazette , a Post-Newsweek publication.

Genres: Nonfiction, Religion, History, Memoir, Social Issues

256 pages, Paperback

First published December 12, 1971

Reviews

[TC · Rating 3 out of 5]

In terms of story and prose, it's rambling, sometimes repetitive, and occasionally confusing with a huge cast of characters hard to keep straight and a long timeline that even though it's linear seems to not tell a linear story. Yet, despite its flaws, this is still an interesting look into a unique subculture of America at a time it transitioned from its founding separatist principles to a more inclusive interfaith one. There's enough of the mechanics of life under the Nation to get a sense of how uncompromising it was and how that structure could be both helpful and harmful. From this story, the outcomes of the original goals of the Nation appear a mixed bag, with emphasis on community, family, and self-sufficiency (including entrepreneurship and a strong education) being the high-points, and a parochial vision of the role of girls and women, a promotion of violence, a systematized racial hatred, and a reliance on a made-up history being the low. Throughout it all the author saw her share of hypocrisy, especially among the adults towards their children and the leaders towards their followers. That story, though, essentially echoes anyone's who was raised in or around an ideals-based lifestyle or organization.

And like any child growing up, she had her share of doubts, dreams, good times, low points, lucky breaks and that's-not-fair moments, and plenty of fights with her parents. Despite the differences she might have felt being a "minority of a minority" as a member of the Nation of Islam, this memoir shows we're all ultimately human and thus not all that different, which in itself is a useful lesson.

[Bhaswati · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent peek into the world of a girl who grew up in the Nation of Islam. Besides questioning the organization's quirky and often hypocritical "rules", the book also documents the social and familial conflicts faced by low-income African Americans during the 1960s and '70s.

[Doyin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had to read it for a class, but overall it was a pretty interesting look at the Nation of Islam.

[Ollie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Insightful and informative about practices of islam and muslim group in the 70s and 80s. Organized religion tends to make me itchy, so i can empathize with sonsyrea's conflicting feelings towards radical changes like that. However, the novel gets three stars because to me, it was purely informative. Nothing about tate's writing evoked any emotions from me, but i found myself nodding along to her questions of "which god is REALLY right??" quite frequently.

[Rotosca Gray · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this. One reason is because I have daughters & I’m starting to teach them about spirituality more so than religion. As a mother I really try to practice what I preach & I try not to tell my girls how to live. This book gave me more insight on parenting because our children are watching us even when we think they are not. I was at a goodwill store & ran a cross this book, I’m so glad I did!!

[Alexis Gay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book for to understand the day to day living of a child being raised in the Nation of Islam. It is a great inside look at it, especially the positive and negative impacts on the black community, specifically Black women.

[Meredith]

This was a very informative first-hand account of a girl growing up in the Nation of Islam. I learned a lot and would recommend it to anyone interested in learning about this religious experience in the United States.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book. Very insightful look at The Nation of Islam as well as the Islamic Religion and the way it impacted history. Loved the characters in it.

[L · Rating 5 out of 5]

It held my attention and I learned something. What else do you want for free?

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Basically an auto-ethnography of a famous sub-culture in Washington, DC.

[Brad Eller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written, interesting first-person account. Ending (post-Nation life) seemed very rushed and leaves a lot of unanswered questions.

[Shawna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Narrative was a little unfocused. There were a few moments when I got to the end of an anecdote and wondered why she had shared it because the pay-off I was expecting didn’t materialize. There were several details that reminded me of other cults that I had read about. Restrictions on the color of clothing, unrestrained procreation, working harder in order to turn more of your money over to the administration, see Jeffs, Warren (to name just one.) Then there was the slow realization that the administration was not abiding by the same rules they set out for the rank and file. (See Jehovah’s Witnesses and the People’s Temple.)

The Nation was ahead of its time as anti-vaxxers.

One element that seemed iconoclastic was the fact that their education system for their women was so rigorous, yet then they condemn their women to young marriages and endless child-bearing. How frustrating and discouraging that must be for smart, motivated women. It rankled me a bit that so many women birthed so many children that then lived in poverty—and then took welfare to support their families. Rather like the FLDS principle of bleeding the beast, the Nation may see the white man as the devil but they sure weren’t above taking his subsidized housing. It seems like such a progressive faith would have been able to equate many children = poverty, but I understand there is always that pull, the cult needs more members, so keep having babies (more hostages to the faith) and poverty = vulnerability which keeps people in the fold. The Catholics figured that out ages ago.

One thing that irked me, was the author’s habit of repeating some information, not having enough confidence in the reader to remember it the first time she said it. For instance, Elijah Muhammad son’s name had been Wallace Fard Muhammad, but he changed it to Warith Deen Mohammad, she must have repeated this at least three times.

She also only briefly mentioned a brief abusive relationship as well as a marriage, which I really would have liked to have known more about. How did the church and the way she was raised influence her to make these (presumably bad) choices about men? But I suppose that was beyond the scope of this book and perhaps that's material for the sequel.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the most beautiful prose I've ever read, but I learned a lot from this book about one woman's experiences with the Nation of Islam.

[Carmen Griffis · Rating 5 out of 5]

AMAZING BOOK!!

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good companion read to the Autobiography of Malcolm X for an illuminating look at the Nation of Islam in the 1960s-70s.