Final Call, October 16, 1995

Since its inception, in the spirit of Carter G. Woodson, Sapelo Square has commemorated Black History Month with daily Black Muslim History facts. This year, Sapelo Square is exploring the Muslim collection at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC). During Black History Month, we will display a different object each day from the collection, showing how the objects help tell the rich histories of Muslims of African descent in the United States. View the entire series at our dedicated Black History Month 2021 page.

Roderick Terry photographed this Nation of Islam (NOI) member holding a copy of The Final Call newspaper at the 1995 Million Man March in Washington, D.C. In 1979, Minister Louis Farrakhan founded the paper, as part of his efforts to re-establish the NOI under the original teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. By 1995, The Final Call had become an important news source for the Black community and played a central role in the NOI’s organizing of the historic 1995 March.