Throughout Black History Month, the same names are often invoked as leaders or visionaries to remember — men like Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., Huey Newton, and W.E.B. Du Bois. In some ways, they transcend time and space as people eagerly search for past figures to learn from. But unless you’re a Black Muslim from New York City, the name Amina Amatul Haqq may not ring a bell. It means everything to her daughter, Dr. Su’ad Abdul Khabeer, though — and through her latest project, Umi’s Archive, Abdul Khabeer wants to show that the lives of everyday Black women like her mother deserve reverence.
A lifelong New Yorker, Amatul Haqq was born in Harlem as Audrey Beatrice Weeks on April 4, 1950, and passed away in October 2017 in Queens. While Amatul Haqq would eventually become a public school teacher, she was also an accomplished pianist and drama student. In 1963, she auditioned at Carnegie Hall for membership in the National Fraternity of Student Musicians and, that next year, become a member of the National Piano Playing Auditions.
