During the late 1960s, Muhammad Speaks was the most widely-circulated Black-operated newspaper in the United States. While it is often associated with the fiery images and ominous messaging of its front covers, it was far more than a sensationalist tabloid. Its combination of community-oriented investigative journalism and Black Nationalist views on racial uplift made it a distinct voice in Black communities for news and commentary. It served as an important source of information for civic leaders, and grassroots organizers, like CORE and the NAACP, as well as those surveilling Black communities such as the FBI and the Ku Klux Klan.
In 1960, the National Minister of the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X, published the first edition of a Harlem-Based newspaper titled Mr. Muhammad Speaks. It was a tabloid-sized city paper dubbed a “militant monthly dedicated to Justice for the Black Man.” Malcolm X enlisted professional Black writers and journalists to gather news, write stories, and edit galley proofs. The paper printed the teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, the leader of the Nation of Islam, and covered major racial justice issues of the day, with an eye towards both domestic and international struggles against racism and colonialism.
In 1961, the paper moved to Chicago, shortened its name to Muhammad Speaks and began national circulation, as a weekly paper, with a larger staff of writers, editors, and illustrators. The paper stood out for its colorful language, striking illustrations, as well as its layout and quality of writing about Black communities. Male members of the Nation of Islam hawked the paper on bustling urban street corners, calling Black passersby to “come back to your own” and “read Muhammad Speaks.”