Virtually all of Dr. Muhammad's life, beginning at the age of 12 when he first joined the NAACP in his hometown of Oxford, North Carolina, has been committed to the pursuit of racial and economic justice in the theological context of being obedient to God.

His leadership abilities were developed early in the 1960's, as a student and grass-roots community activist, who worked with the NAACP, the Congress On Racial Equality (CORE), the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) on issues ranging from challenging institutionalized racism to promoting a progressive social transformation of American society.

In the following years, Mr. Muhammad established a national reputation as a theologian, church official, civil and human rights leader, a gifted speaker, outstanding administrator and prolific writer with two books to his credit - An American Political Prisoner: Appeals for Human Rights (United Church of Christ Commission on Racial Justice,1979); and Psalms From Prison (Pilgrim Press,1983).

An ordained minister in the United Church of Christ and subsequently a minister in the Nation of Islam, Dr. Muhammad received his Bachelor of Arts degree (B.A.) in chemistry from the University of North Carolina; the Master of Divinity degree (M.Div.), magna cum laude, from Duke University and the Doctor of Ministry degree (D. Min.) from Howard University. He has also completed course requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree (Ph. D.) in systematic theology at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. Dr. Muhammad's evolution into Islam came as a result of accepting God's call into the Nation of Islam, after years of Christian and Islamic dialogue, study, prayer, theological praxis, and ministry.

At the time of his election as the NAACP's Executive Director, Dr. Muhammad was the Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Commission for Racial Justice of the 1.7 million-member United Church of Christ with national offices in Cleveland, Ohio. He had served in that executive position from 1985 to 1993.

Under his leadership, the Commission for Racial Justice sponsored successful "Freedom Rides" to the Alabama Black Belt and to Chicago to ensure voting rights and enhance voter mobilization; and the Commission in 1987 issued the landmark national report, 'Toxic Wastes and Race in the United States" and Dr. Chavis Muhammad was the first to coin the term "environmental racism".

For more than eight years, 1985-1993, Mr. Muhammad wrote a weekly syndicated newspaper column entitled, "Civil Rights Journal" that was published in over 1500 African American newspapers throughout the nation. "Civil Rights Journal" was also produced and hosted by Dr. Chavis Muhammad on several national radio network weekly broadcasts.

Born January 22, 1948, in Oxford, North Carolina, Dr. Muhammad comes from a long line of civil rights leaders dating back to his great- great-grandfather, the Rev. John Chavis, also of Oxford, NC, who some 200 years ago became the first African American ordained Presbyterian minister in the United States and a leader against slavery.

The commitment of Dr. Muhammad to civil and human rights was tested under the most severe circumstances when he was unjustly convicted on false charges in the 1970's in a case growing out of a civil rights demonstration on the issue of school desegregation and unjustly imprisoned for four and a half years in North Carolina.

Taking its name from the site of the demonstration, "The Wilmington Ten Case" aroused national and international outrage. In 1978, Amnesty International cited "Wilmington Ten" as the first official case of political prisoners in the United States. On December 4, 1980, the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned trumped-up convictions of the "Wilmington Ten," clearing the record and their names.

Mr. Muhammad emerged from the prison experience with an even deeper commitment to serve God and the causes in which he believes, as reflected in the broad range of activities in which he has since engaged.

He has been Vice President of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA and Chairman of the Prophetic Justice Unit of the National Council of Churches based in New York City; Co - Chairperson of the Southern Organizing Committee for Economic and Social Justice based in Birmingham, Alabama; and President of the Angola Foundation. In addition, he has served as President of the Board of the Washington Office on Africa.

Among the many awards he holds are the National Bar Association's Gertrude E. Rush Distinguished Service Award; the National Business League's J.E. Walker Humanitarian Award, the Progressive National Baptist Convention's Martin Luther King, Jr., Freedom Award, the 1993 Congressional Black Caucus National Leadership Award, and the 1994 Ebony American Black Achievement Award.

Dr. Muhammad also served on the Clinton/Gore Transition Team for the Natural Resources Cluster, inclusive of the Departments of Energy, Interior, Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency. President Clinton in 1994 appointed Dr. Muhammad as a member of the President Council on Sustainable Development.

Dr. Muhammad also is the CEO and Founder of the National African American Leadership Summit (NAALS), based in Washington, D.C., which has been successful in promoting unity among African American leaders and organizations. Working closely with Hip-Hop Mogul Russell Simmons, Dr. Ben -- as he is affectionately called -- is the spiritual advisor to the hip hop nation.

To bring Dr. Benjamin Muhammad to speak at your college or university, or to conduct a training workshop for your student organization, call 312.617.6690. 

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