Wallie Dodd Ford (February 25, 1891 or February 26, 1893[Uncertain] - 1934 [Uncertain])
Birth and origin
editWhile there is a scholarly "consensus that Ford was born outside the United States", little is known about his origins.[1] He was 'racially ambiguous", looking "exotic", and was variously described as White, Mediterranean, Latin, Arabian, or East Indian.[2] He was described as speaking English "without any noticeable foreign accent".[3]
Autobiographical claims
editFard told his African-American follows that he had been born on February 26, 1877 in the city of Mecca, the son of a black man and a white woman.[4] He claimed to have degrees from Oxford and UCLA, and reported having attended London university to prepare him for a career as a diplomat for the "Kingdom of Hijaz".[5] To other African-Americans, he identified as "mulatto" or light-skinned Negro. [6]
When interacting with whites, he consistently identified as white or Caucasian, claiming to have had a white British father and a Polynesian mother. [7] At times, he listed his parents as Zarid and Beatrice Ford who had been born in Hawaii. He could speak English "without any noticeable foreign accent".[8]
Theories of ethnic and geographic origin
editWhite America
editA marriage certificate dated June 5, 1924, was issued to Wallie Dodd Ford and Carmen Frevino,Trevino (or Treviño) in Santa Ana, California. Ford reported that he was a cook, age 26, born in Oregon and living in Los Angeles.
No foreign accent
New Zealand
editIn the 1920 United States Census his race was reported as white, his occupation as a proprietor of a restaurant, and his place of birth as New Zealand.
Though some have speculated Fard might have been tied to New Zealand, the nation's vital statistic agency reported having no had no record of Fard or his supposed parents Zared and Beatrice Fard.
Saudi Arabia
editNation of Islam teaches Fard was born in Mecca to a black father and white woman.
Spain
edit1924 marriage certificate to Carmen Trevino claimed Ford was born in Oregon to Spanish immigrants. Worked as a Tamale vendor.
Bosnia
editOttoman Empire
editCalled "Fred the Turk" in Eugene, Oregon
Persia
editGreece
editCalled "Fred the Greek" as a Tamale vendor in Eugene Oregon
Afghanistan
editA World War I draft registration card for Wallie Dodd Fard[citation needed] from 1917 indicated he was living in Los Angeles, unmarried, as a restaurant owner, and reported that he was born in Shinka, Afghanistan on February 26, 1893. He further reported that he was a resident alien and citizen of Afghanistan. Chameleon argues for this origin.
British India
edit(i.e. India-Pakistan)
Black America
editNo foreign accent
Theories of religious origins
editProtestant Christianity
editMoorish Science
editSunni Islam
editShia Islam
editJehovah's Witness
editPhotographs
edit1926 arrest in Los Angeles
edit1926 San Quentin prison
edit1932 arrest in Detroit
edit1933 arrest in Detroit
editRecords
editSource | Reported Place of Birth | Comments |
---|---|---|
1909 naturalization of Wali Fred Dad | Hong Kong | Claimed to be "Subject of Alphonso xiii King of Spain"), have arrived via Hong Kong, was living in Eugene, Oregon |
April 20, 1914 Marriage Certificate to Pearl Allen in Multnomah County, Oregon | Europe | Allen was a Native American teenager, Fred Dodd identified as a salesman who was born in Europe along with both his parents. |
1917 Los Angeles phone directory | W.D. Ford listed at 310 Clay, along with F.A. Allen (Fard 'Ali)[9] | |
1917 draft card | Shinka, Afghanistan | |
1920 census | New Zealand | Living in Los Angeles |
1920 birth certificate of child with Hazel | Born 1893-1895 | Father identifies as white |
1924 marriage certificate to Carmen Trevino | Oregon | Claimed his parents "Zaradodd" and "Babbjie" were natives of Madrid, Spain. |
1926 prison records | Portland, Oregon | Claimed his parents were Zared and Beatrice Ford of Hawaii |
1930 census | Oregon | Claimed father from Argentina, mother from Oregon. Listed occupation is salesman in clothing industry. |
Biography
editFred Dodd the Tamale Man in Oregon
editFrom 1908-09, Fred Dadd was a Tamale vendor in Eugene, Oregon; Alternate names included Wali Fired Dad and Fred Wali Dad, he was also known as "Fred the Turk" or "Fred the Greek",[10] From 1910-1915, Fred Dadd (or Dodd) resided in Salem, Oregon.
1914 rape trial and marriage to Pearl Allen
editFord, using the name Fred Dodd, married Pearl Allen, a native American teenager, in Multnomah County, Oregon, on May 9, 1914. with their first child, a son, born the next year.[11][12][13] The following day, Fred Dodd was acquitted of a "statutory crime" involving "a girl who wantonly separated from her Husband."[14]
On November 14, 1914, he was arrest for larceny after allegedly stealing from his wife Pearl who he was suing for divorce.[15]
Wallie Dodd Ford the Los Angeles restaurateur
editFrom 1916-1925, Wallace Dodd Fard (Ford) resided in Los Angeles. [16] Dodd left his family in 1916 and moved to Los Angeles, using the name Wallie Dodd Ford. A World War I draft registration card for Wallie Dodd Fard from 1917 indicated he was living in Los Angeles, unmarried, as a restaurant owner, and reported that he was born in Shinka, Afghanistan on February 26, 1893. He further reported that he was a resident alien and citizen of Afghanistan. He was described as of medium height and build with brown eyes and black hair. On the draft card, "Ford" is written in parentheses in a different hand. At the bottom of the card, he signed his name as "Wallie Dodd Ford".[17]
1918 Arrest for assault
editOn November 17, 1918, Wallie D. Ford of California was arrested by Los Angeles police on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon.[18]
Relationship with Hazel Barton
editIn 1920, Ford was still living in Los Angeles as 26-year-old Wallie D. Ford, with his 25-year-old wife, Hazel E. Ford (nee Barton, aka Osborne). In the 1920 United States Census his race was reported as white, his occupation as a proprietor of a restaurant, and his place of birth as New Zealand. He provided no known place of birth for his parents nor his date of immigration.[19]
In the 1920 United States Census his race was reported as white, his occupation as a proprietor of a restaurant, and his place of birth as New Zealand. On September 1, 1920, Hazel gave birth to a son, Wallace Dodd Ford.
On October 17, 1957, the FBI located and interviewed Hazel Barton-Ford, Wallie Ford's common-law wife, with whom he had a son named Wallace Dodd Ford, born September 1, 1920.[20] Barton-Ford gave a description of Wallie Ford, and described him as a Caucasian New Zealander.[20]
Marriage to Carmen in Santa Ana
editA marriage certificate dated June 5, 1924, was issued to Wallie Dodd Ford and Carmen Frevino,Trevino (or Treviño) in Santa Ana, California. Ford reported that he was a cook, age 26, born in Oregon and living in Los Angeles. Trevino was a 22-year-old native of Mexico also living in Los Angeles. Both provided their race as "Spanish"; Ford claimed that his parents, "Zaradodd" and "Babbjie", were natives of Madrid, Spain.[21]
Alcohol and narcotics arrests and imprisonment
editFord operated a cafe in Los Angeles and was associated with a "man who was half Chinese". Ford was arrested again on January 20, 1926, for violation of the California Woolwine Possession Act,[22] and on February 15, 1926, for selling narcotics in violation of the State Poison Act , for which he was sentenced to six months to six years at San Quentin State Prison on June 12, 1926.[23] According to San Quentin records, Wallie D. Ford was born in Portland, Oregon on February 25, 1891, the white son of Zared and Beatrice Ford, who were both born in Hawaii.[24] From 1926-29, Wallie D. Ford was a prisoner in San Quentin.
Fingerprints and photographs taken from San Quentin Prison matched those involved with Fard during the 1930s in Detroit.[25]
Ford was released from San Quentin on May 27, 1929. [26] Thereafter, William D. Ford appeared in Chicago, followed by Wallace D. Fard's arrival in Detroit. [27]
Identification with Wallace Fard Muhammad
editIn July 1963, the FBI told the Los Angeles Evening Herald-Examiner that Fard was actually Wallace Dodd Ford.[28]
George Farr of San Francisco?
editEvanzzz suggests Fard was also "George Farr", an "agitator" and Universal Negro Improvement Association in San Francisco in the early 1920s.
David Ford-El and the Moorish Science Temple in Chicago?
editNoble Drew Ali found was found dead on July 20, 1929, raising questions of successorship. A prominent member of the Moorish Science Temple of America called David Ford-El claimed to be the Prophet reincarnated and attempted to lead the group. Scholars have argued that David-El may have been W.D. Fard, and that when his leadership was largely rejected, he broke away from the Moorish Science Temple, left Chicago for Detroit, and founded the Nation of Islam.[29]
Uncertain origin and fate
edit- Los Angeles Imam Muhammad Abdullah? (Elijah Muhammad, 1953?)
- Ahmadiyya muslim who sailed from Fiji? (Fatima Fanusie, 2008)
- Khan Alam/Khanialam Khan, who comes from Hong Kong to Port Townsend, WA in 1904 aboard SS Tremont. (A.K. Arian, 2017)
- "Wallace Elija Ford" (b. February 19, 1894 Colmesneil,Texas, married Naomi, d. Houston, Texas January 6, 1839), son of Wallace Ford (b. Jasper County, Texas) and Nancy Conner (b. Newton County, Texas), listed in 1910 census as "Wallace Fard Jr"? ("Resume Byron" on Youtube, 2023) [Seems to contradict documented presence in Oregon]
Books
edit- Beynon, Erdmann Doane (May 1, 1938). "The Voodoo Cult among Negro migrants in Detroit". American Journal of Sociology. 43 (6): 894–907. doi:10.1086/217872. JSTOR 2768686. S2CID 144039917.
- Evanzz, Karl (2011) [1999]. The Messenger: The Rise and Fall of Elijah Muhammad (3 ed.). New York City, New York, United States: Knopf Doubleday. ISBN 9780307805201 – via Google Books.
- Arian, A.K. (2017). Chameleon: The True Story of W.D. Fard. Xis Books. ISBN 978-0977911257.
- Bowen, Patrick D. (2017). "W.D. Fard". A History of Conversion to Islam in the United States, Volume 2: The African American Islamic Renaissance, 1920–1975. Boston: Brill. pp. 240–276. doi:10.1163/9789004354371_008. ISBN 9789004354371. Retrieved March 16, 2022.
- Morrow, John Andrew (2019). Finding W.D. Fard: Unveiling the Identity of the Founder of the Nation of Islam. Newcastle upon Tyne, England, United Kingdom: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. ISBN 9781527524897 – via Google Books.
References
edit- ^ Finding W.D. Fard, pg1
- ^ Finding W.D. Fard, pg2
- ^ FWDF, pg 4
- ^ p3
- ^ p3
- ^ p4
- ^ p4
- ^ p4
- ^ FWDF
- ^ FWDF, pg 283
- ^ Evanzz (2001), p. 399
- ^ Gibson (2012), pp. 24–25
- ^ Evanzz, Karl (2001), p. 409-414
- ^ https://www.newspapers.com/article/51042587/wd_fard_acquitted_of_swanson_rape/
- ^ https://www.newspapers.com/article/51042942/wd_fard_arrested_for_stealing_from/
- ^ FWDF, pg 283
- ^ https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KZVF-R7D
- ^ U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). FBI Documents on Wallace Fard Muhammad.
- ^ 1920 Federal U.S. Census, Los Angeles City, Enumeration District 206, Sheet 10B
- ^ a b FBI File SAC LA (105-4805) at 135
- ^ California State Board of Health, County of Orange, Certificate of Marriage, Local Registered No. 1768, as located in "California, County Marriages, 1850–1952", index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/K8FM-5FP: accessed January 5, 2013), Wallie Dodd Ford and Carmen Frevino, 1924.
- ^ U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). FBI Documents on Wallace Fard Muhammad.
- ^ FBI File SAC (100-43165-16)
- ^ FBI report CG 100-3386, page 2. "FBI report CG 100-3386", FBI Records: The Vault; retrieved October 14, 2015.
- ^ Bowen, Patrick. The Colored Genius. Harvard University. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
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ignored (help) - ^ https://vault.fbi.gov/Wallace%20Fard%20Muhammed/Wallace%20Fard%20Muhammed%20Part%204%20of%207
- ^ FWDF, pg 283
- ^ Evanzz (2001), p. 264
- ^ Ahlstrom (p. 1067), Lippy (p. 214), Miyakawa (p. 12).