Origins and genealogy
York’s biography is difficult to determine because much of the story he and his followers have told is mythological rather than historical in nature. York has gone to great lengths to establish genealogical toeholds in various important lines of descent.
According to a birth certificate issued in the United States, York was born in Boston, Massachusetts but other accounts give his birth place as New Jersey, New York, Baltimore, or Takoradi, Ghana.
The way York tells it, he was born in Omdurman, Sudan. His mother is Mary C. York
née Williams, now also known as Faatimah Maryam, who at the time was married to David Piper York. York claims that his biological father was Al Haadi Abdur Rahman Al Mahdi, whom Williams is said to have met while she was a student in the Sudan.
York claims that the name he was given at birth was "Isa Al Haadi Al Mahdi" and that he only acquired the name "York" (without a first name) a month later when the family returned to Boston. David and Mary York have four other children: David, Dale, Debra and Dennis.
David Piper York is said to be a descendant of "Ben" York of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. In order to preserve York’s claim to be in Ben York’s bloodline, while also claiming that his real father was Al Haadi Abdur Rahman Al Mahdi, an additional claim is made ... that Mary Williams and David York were second cousins: Mary Williams’ mother, Leila Williams
née Miller (a Washitaw Native American) is said to have been Ben York’s granddaughter on her father’s side.
In one telling, Ben York is the son of Old York, also known as Yusuf Ben Ali, and these Yorks were named after Black-A-Moors from the English House of York."Genealogy of Consul General Dr. Malachi Z. York and his African-Native Moorish American-Aboriginal and Indigenous Peoples of the Land Heritage"
Nuwaubian Administration of International Affairs [1] ... "Ben York was the son of Old York, ‘Yusef Ben Ali’. Ben York’s parents were named after the Yorks from ‘Yorkshire, Northern England’. The ancestors of these Yorks in England were Negroid, Black-A-Moors, which is the Yorkshire Coats of Arms. The name York is a British name [from] Yorkshire, northern England. York was the ruling house of England (1461—1485), which included Edward IV, Edward V, and Richard III. During The War of the Roses its symbol was a white rose. York was a borough of Northern England on the Ouse River East — Northeast of Leeds. Originally it was a Celtic settlement, meaning it was occupied by Moors, that is Dark Skinned Woolly Haired Moors, not to be mistaken with modern day Moroccans, who are Spaniards and Francs."... "The Idrisid Dynasty were the first Arab rulers of the whole of Morocco. They were the descendants of Bilaal son of Rabah and Hamama, [an] Ethiopian Moor born 551-641 A.D. This Bilaal was of the Hebrew Essenic Branc[h] of Shriners who was responsible to pass the scepter of rulership from Israel to Ishmael giving Muhammad his link to the Ancient Shriner Brotherhood of Sayyids called Shariyfs ‘Nobles’. The Idrisid held power in Morocco from 789-926 A.D." In another telling, Ben York’s mother is said to have been Warda Saliym "Rose" Idriys, "a Yamassee Native American Moor," whose father is Old York/Yusuf Ben Ali, which would make Ben York the
grandson of Old York. Idriys was also the "daughter of Sharufa Salim Idriys, of the Idrisid Dynasty"
A grandfather on York’s father’s side (Al Haadi Abdur Rahman Al Mahdi’s) was As Sayyid Abdur Rahman Al Mahdi. This would make York also a descendant of Muhammad Ahmad.
On his mother’s side, Clarence Daniel "Bobby" Williams, Mary C. York’s father, is described as "an Egyptian Moor named Salah Hailak Al Ghala, a merchant seaman from a little village called Beluwla, in Nubia of Ancient Egypt" but another genealogical tree shows Bobby Williams’s father as unknown and his mother as "Madam Decontee" of the Bassa tribe of Liberia.
York variously claimed to be simultaneously a Yamassee Native American chief, a Celtic Moor from the house of York, a Nubian Egyptian, a Liberian yet with royal Sudanese blood and so forth.
Early life and ministry
York says that he was raised in Massachusetts and at the age of seven went to Aswan, Egypt to learn Islam. "My grandfather, As Sayyid Abdur Rahman Al Mahdi, the Imaam of the Ansaars in the Sudan until 1959, upon looking into my eyes foretold that I was the one who would possess ‘the light.’" He says he returned to the United States in 1957 at age 12 and continued to study Islam, and moved to Teaneck, New Jersey as an adolescent.
In 1964 York was sentenced to probation after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge of raping a 13-year-old girl. Later that year he was arrested again for assault, possession of a dangerous weapon and resisting an officer. York was sentenced to three years in state prison. After he was paroled in 1967 he joined the Black Panthers.
In the late 1960s York, calling himself "Amunnubi Rooakhptah," invented a quasi-Muslim black nationalist movement based on what he called the "Science of Nuwaubu."
He changed his name to "Imaam Isa Abdullah" and started his "Ansaar Pure Sufi" ministry to the "Nubians" in Brooklyn in 1967. The group later became part of the Black Hebrews phenomenon, under the names "Nubian Islaamic Hebrews" and "Nubian Hebrew Mission" in 1969.
After York returned from a pilgrimage to Egypt, the group changed names again, to "Jazzir Abba," and then to the "Ansaaru Allah Community" in 1970 which a 1993 FBI report described as a "front for a wide range of criminal activity, including arson, welfare fraud and extortion."
One observer wrote:
The women of the Ansaaru Allah Community focus on memorizing history as their Imam sees it, learning Arabic (many of them are quite fluent), incorporating Sudanese etiquette into their mannerisms and memorizing the Qur'an. They participate in the compilation of the various texts produced by the community and also work in the recording studio owned by the community. Other than this work, the women’s main source of income comes from US government public assistance and monies earned by the men in various enterprises such as food shops, jewelry and merchandise stories, and street vending.
Another source says:
He was based in Coney Island for a time, and operated a bookstore and a printing press on Flatbush Ave. in the 70s. In the 80s he was based in Brooklyn, on Bushwick Ave. York’s students are best remembered by New Yorkers as practitioners of orthodox Islam — members of certain New York Five Percent Nation, Nation of Islam and Arab Islamic mosques still regard the Nuwaubians as a rival faction — but at different times they followed the paths of Christianity and Judaism. Operations relocated to Liberty, near the Catskills, around 1991, then to Georgia in 1993.Heimlich, Adam "Black Egypt: A Visit to Tama-Re" New York Press 8 November 2000 [2]see also: Hevesi, Dennis "Muslims Leave Bushwick: The Neighbors Ask Why" New York Times 24 April 1994
York’s groups later took on a new array of names and functions — religious, fraternal, and tribal — including the "Yamassee Native American Tribe," "the Washitaw Tribe," "The Egiptian Church Of Karast," "The Holy Tabernacle Ministries," "The United Nuwaubian Nation Of Moors," the "Holy Seed Baptist Synagogue," "the Ancient Mystic Order of Melchizedek," and "the Ancient Egiptian Order." Dwight York himself had his name legally changed to Issa al Haadi al Mahdi in 1990, and then again to Malachi York in 1993, but also tried on a myriad of titles and pseudonyms, including The Supreme Grand Master Dr. Malachi Z. York, Nayya Malachizodoq-El, and Chief Black Eagle (York claimed that the Nuwaubian Moors are descendants of the Olmecs via Egypt over an ancient land bridge to Georgia.)
By 1985 York had added miracle-performance to his repertoire. He would materialize sacred, healing ash in front of his followers, much in the fashion of Sathya Sai Baba.
In 1988 York was convicted for obtaining a passport with a false birth certificate.
Musical career
York was a singer who claimed to have recorded with such acts as Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes, The Delfonics, McFadden & Whitehead, and Evelyn ‘Champagne’ King. He also performed as lead singer in his own groups: Jackie and The Starlights, The Students, and Passion.
He later launched his own record label, also named Passion, recording himself as the solo artist "Dr. York." His debut release was the single "It’s Only A Dream" which came from the album
New York (Hot Melt Records 1985). The artistic contributions on the album included background vocals from Ted Mills of the group Blue Magic. He also teamed up with Sarah Dash for the duet "It’s Too Late", and recorded with T.C. Curtis on the Hot Melt label in the UK.
York said he performed popular music in order to "reach a mass majority of my people through my music."
He later also claimed grander musical contributions, stating at one point that "you were listening to my hits back in the 60’s and did not know it, nor did you know that songs which were considered ‘message music’ in the 70’s were written by me."
York also wrote and produced "What Is He To You (To You)?" for his daughter, Kenne'. It did not reach the mainstream charts, but had something of a presence in black/urban video shows such as
Video Music Box and
NY Hot Tracks.
