Since the 19th Century, African Americans have found an attractive alternative to Christianity in Islam. Prominent converts like Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali are icons of an Islam reliant on self-discipline and the will to upward mobility. Based on ethnographic sources and their classification in social science discourse on U.S. history and society, Katrin Simon shows in an impressive way that »Black Islam« is an independent phenomenon, distinguishable from from the Islam of immigrants. The result is a unique view of an America in which ghetto Imams and veiled feminists fight racism even among their own ranks.