Yusuf Bey

Yusuf Bey
Born
Joseph Stephens

(1935-12-21)December 21, 1935
DiedSeptember 30, 2003(2003-09-30) (aged 67)
Occupation(s)Activist and religious leader
OrganizationYour Black Muslim Bakery
TitleBey
Notes

Yusuf Bey (born Joseph Stephens; December 21, 1935 – September 30, 2003) was an American Black Muslim activist and leader who was a member of the Lost-Found Nation of Islam, an offshoot of Louis Farrakhan's Nation of Islam (NOI).[1]

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.

  1. ^ Noel, Peter (May 18, 1999). "Nations of Islam at War". The Village Voice. Retrieved December 18, 2020.