Nuwaubian Nation

Nuwaubian Nation

The Nuwaubian Nation is an American religious group founded and led by Dwight York. York began founding Black Muslim groups in New York in 1967. In the late 1980s, he abandoned the Muslim theology of his movement in favor of Kemetism and UFO religion. Adherence declined steeply after York was convicted of numerous counts of child molestation and financing violations.

About Nuwaubian Nation in brief

Summary Nuwaubian NationThe Nuwaubian Nation is an American religious group founded and led by Dwight York. York began founding Black Muslim groups in New York in 1967. He changed his teachings and the names of his groups many times, incorporating concepts from Judaism, Christianity, and many esoteric beliefs. In the late 1980s, he abandoned the Muslim theology of his movement in favor of Kemetism and UFO religion. Adherence declined steeply after York was convicted of numerous counts of child molestation and financing violations. He was sentenced to 135 years in federal prison in April 2004. The Southern Poverty Law Center described York as a \”black supremacist cult leader\”, and has designated the organization as a “hate group” The group has taken numerous names, including Ansaru Allah Community, Holy Tabernacle Ministries, United Nuwautian Nation of Moors and Yamassee Native American Moors of the Creek Nation. The group was centered exclusively on the person of its founder, Malachi York, who legally changed his name several times, and has used dozens of aliases. Some factions of the Black supremacist subculture in the United States appeared to continue to support York as of 2010, portraying his conviction as a conspiracy by the “White Power Structure” and the New Black Panther Party. York was arrested in May 2002, and in 2003 he pleaded guilty to child sexual abuse.

In 2004, he was convicted to a 135-year sentence for transporting minors across state lines in the course of sexually molesting them, racketeering, and financial reporting charges. The case was described in the book Ungodly: A True Story of Unprecedented Evil by Bill Osinski, a reporter who had covered the Nuwaudians in Georgia during the late 1990s. The Tama-Re compound was sold under government forfeiture and demolished. According to former follower Redd Redd, York had between 2,000 and 3,000 followers during the 1970s. York styled himself a messianic founder-prophet of the movement, sometimes claiming divine status or extraterrestrial origin, appearing on his Savior’s Day celebrations. He published some 450 booklets under numerous pseudonyms in the 1980s and 1990s, and was also active as a musician as Dr. York, recording for Passion Records. The movement borrowed from numerous religious traditions beyond Islam, creating a mixture of Ancient Egypt and Native American themes from the late 1970s and early 1980s. Its headquarters was in Brooklyn, New York, until 1983 in Bushwick, Brooklyn. A portion of the community moved to Sullivan County, NY, until about 1991, when they called Camp Abba Abba. In 1991 he took his community to settle in upstate New York; then they moved near to Eatonton, the county seat of Putnam County in Georgia.