Oral History Interview with Thaddeus Shakoor, August 13, 2020 and March 6, 2021

Oral history interview with Thaddeus Shakoor. The first segment of the interview was conducted by Muminah Ahmad on August 13, 2020 and the second segment was conducted by Dr. Alisa Perkins on March 6, 2021. Interview written by Dr. Alisa Perkins (Research Director) and Muminah Ahmad. Both segments are in the same video file. Thaddeus Shakoor was born on August 22, 1942 in Detroit, Michigan to parents who were both born in Georgia. Raised in a family with a Christian background, Shakoor converted to Islam though the Nation of Islam’s Temple No. 7 in Harlem while he was in his twenties and living in New York to pursue a musical career. Shakoor returned to Detroit after a few years, and in the 1970s he embraced Sunni Islam, joining the community of Imam Warith Deen Mohammed. In the interview, Shakoor describes the many years of community activism that he engaged in during his life with other members of Detroit’s Muslim Community through Temple No. 1, Historic Masjid Wali Muhammad, and the Muslim Center Mosque and Community Center. Shakoor emphasizes the guiding role that Imam Warith Deen Mohammed has played in his life, especially in understanding the importance of cultivating cooperation among Muslims across ethnic, class, and urban-suburban divides. Shakoor was instrumental in establishing Neighborly Needs and the Shabazz Men’s Transitional Home. He helped lay the groundwork for Dream of Detroit, a major revitalization effort in the central west Detroit neighborhood around the Muslim Center Mosque and Community Center. He is married to Baheejah Shakoor and together they have raised five children.https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/dream-storytelling-interviews/1002/thumbnail.jp