Yusuf Bey
| Yusuf Bey | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Joseph Stephens December 21, 1935 Greenville, Texas |
| Died | September 30, 2003 (aged 67) Oakland, California |
| Cause of death | Cancer |
| Occupation | Activist and leader |
| Known for | Your Black Muslim Bakery |
| Title | Bey |
Yusuf Bey (December 21, 1935 – September 30, 2003), born Joseph Stephens, was a Black Muslim activist and leader.
After discovering the teachings of Elijah Muhammed in the 1960s, he adopted the name Yusuf Bey and moved to Oakland, California, and then Santa Barbara, California, where in 1968 he opened a bakery. The bakery moved to Oakland by 1971. Renamed Your Black Muslim Bakery, it became the center of a local Black nationalist community. Held out at the time as a model of African-American economic self-sufficiency, the business fell apart after Bey's death and a series of murders linked to criminal activities.
Bey was born and raised in Greenville, Texas. As a student in the early 1950s he moved with his family to Oakland, California, where he attended Oakland Technical High School, and then enlisted for four years in the U.S. Air Force. In his first business venture he obtained a cosmetology degree and ran beauty salons in neighboring Berkeley and then in the southern city of Santa Barbara before going into the bakery business instead. Having converted to Islam in 1964, Bey founded the Islamic bakery in Santa Barbara in 1968. The group was not affiliated with Louis Farrakhan's movement, the Nation of Islam, though early connections and similarities were evident. Nation of Islam minister Keith Muhammad, of East Oakland's Muhammad Mosque #26, stated that the two organizations are distinct and separate.
The baked goods Bey sold were, in accordance with strict Muslim diets, free of refined sugar, fats, and preservatives. He named the business Your Black Muslim Bakery on the personal recommendation of his spiritual guide, the Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad. In 1971, Bey moved the bakery to Oakland.
...
Wikipedia