Wallace D. Fard
*This date celebrates the birth of Wallace D. Fard in c 1877. He was a Black religious leader.
Though his birth date and year are not confirmed, Fard immigrated to the United States sometime before 1930. In that year, he established in Detroit the Temple of the Nation of Islam (N.O.I.) as well as the University of Islam, which was the temple's school, and the Fruit of Islam, a corps of male guards. Fard preached that Blacks (who were not to be called Negroes) must prepare for an inevitable race war and that Christianity was the religion of slave owners.
Accordingly, he gave his followers Arabic names to replace those that had originated in slavery. Fard offered Blacks a credo of moral and cultural superiority to their White oppressors. In 1934, the founder of the Nation of Islam (sometimes called the Black Muslim) movement in the United States disappeared without a trace. Members of the NOI movement believe Farad to be the incarnation of Allah, and his birthday, February 26, is observed as Saviors Day.
