article_title name birth_date employer birth_name occupation alma_mater
abdul alkalimat
 abdul alkalimat 21 november 1942 university of illinois at urbana -- champaign gerald arthur mcworter professor science author of african american studies and library and information ottawa university university of chicago
abdul alkalimat

abdul alkalimat -lrb- born gerald arthur mcworter , november 21 , 1942 -rrb- is an american professor of african american studies and library and information science at the university of illinois at urbana -- champaign .
he is the author of several books , including `` introduction to afro-american studies '' , `` the african american experience in cyberspace '' , and `` malcolm x for beginners '' .
he curates two websites related to african-american history , `` malcolm x : a research site '' and `` eblack studies '' .
alkalimat lived with his family in chicago 's frances cabrini houses until 1953 , when they moved to the city 's west side .
in a 2003 interview , alkalimat remembered his childhood in public housing : though i remember ... people outside the project saying , `` ah , you 're living on welfare , kinda . ''
but i think i had a childhood second to none .
i remember those years as golden years , frankly .
i cherish having grown up in cabrini .
alkalimat attended ottawa university , where he earned 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. in sociology there in 1974 .
during the late 1960s , alkalimat helped create the institute of the black world -lrb- ibw -rrb- in atlanta with professors vincent harding and stephen henderson and other student activists including howard dodson , a. b. spellman , william strickland , and council taylor .
the ibw became `` the most dynamic black ` think tank ' of the era '' , according to peniel e. joseph , assistant professor of africana studies at stony brook university .
in the early 1970s , alkalimat established peoples college , a black nationalist think tank .
he wrote `` introduction to afro-american studies : a peoples college primer '' , which has become a popular text and gone through several editions .
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 -lrb- ncbs -rrb- .
he was elected the ncbs chairman , but the organization 's board questioned the results and called for a new election the following year to determine whether alkalimat 's ascension to the post was legitimate .
in an election that many members considered confusing , alkalimat was voted out .
new voting rules were adopted by the board that made the results retroactive , stripping alkalimat of his chairmanship .
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 .
shabazz and pathfinder alleged the book contained quotations from malcolm x without permission .
alkalimat and his publisher said that the book 's quotations were permitted under the fair use doctrine .
the matter was settled out of court , with alkalimat relinquishing all royalties from the book .
