Abdul Alkalimat
*Abdul Alkalimat was born on this date in 1942. He is a Black author and professor of African American studies and library and information science.
Born Gerald Arthur McWorter in Chicago's Cook County Hospital, he lived with his family in the Frances Cabrini Houses until 1953, when they moved to the city's West Side. Alkalimat is Frank McWorter's great-great-grandson.
Alkalimat attended Ottawa University, earning a B.A. in sociology and philosophy in 1963. He completed his M.A. in sociology at the University of Chicago in 1966 and earned a Ph.D. there in 1974. During the late 1960s, he helped create the Institute of the Black World (I.B.W.) in Atlanta with professors Vincent Harding and Stephen Henderson and other student activists, including Howard Dodson, A. B. Spellman, William Strickland, and Council Taylor. He was also part of the Organization of Black American Culture.
In the early 1970s, Alkalimat established Peoples College, a Black nationalist think tank. Alkalimat helped to organize the Illinois Council for Black Studies, and in 1982, he hosted the annual meeting of the National Council for Black Studies (NCBS). In 1991, Alkalimat wrote Malcolm X for Beginners. He and his publisher, Writers and Readers Press, were sued by Betty Shabazz, the widow of Malcolm X, and Pathfinder Press, which has exclusive rights to publish Malcolm X's speeches. The matter was settled out of court, with Alkalimat relinquishing all royalties from the book.
He is the author of other books, including Introduction to Afro-American Studies (1984), The African American Experience in Cyberspace (2004), The History of Black Studies (2021), Twenty-First Century Books (with Douglas C. Gills and Kate Williams), The African American Experience in Cyberspace: A Resource Guide to the Best Websites on Black Culture and History (2004) Sterling, Va.: Pluto Press, eBlack Studies (2004) Chicago: Twenty-First Century Books, and "Cyberpower," Public Sphere Project. Schuler. 2008. Retrieved October 27, 2015. (With Kate Williams). He curates two websites related to African American history, "Malcolm X: A Research Site" and "Black Studies."
