Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU) collection

1963-1965

The Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU) was a Black nationalist organization launched by Malcolm X in 1964. The OAAU was a secular institution that sought to unify 22 million non-Muslim African Americans with the people of the African Continent. It was modeled after the Organization of African Unity (OAU), a coalition of 53 African nations working to provide a unified political voice for the continent. The collection includes various OAAU and Malcolm X-related documents, such s two statements issued by Malcolm X in Cairo, August 1964; a typed article that Malcolm X reportedly gave to Peter Bailey, editor of the OAAU newsletter Blacklash, at the Hotel Theresa the day before his assassination; and interview transcripts, press releases, and other printed matter. Also included are Bailey's holograph, "Thoughts Written down Immediately after Bro. Malcolm's Assassination"; a two-page statement by Ella Collins, President of OAAU, Inc., announcing "A ten year economic program based upon 360 degrees of knowledge" and the organization's new motto, "Black Ism" (1965); and writings by Carlos Moore and Lebert Bethune of the Afroamerican Committee in Paris about Malcolm X's banning by the French government and his subsequent assassination.