Dr. Ridgely Abdul Mu'min Muhammad was born in 1951 in Winston-Salem, N.C. He joined the Nation of Islam (NOI) in 1971 while attending Columbia University in NYC. He received a B.S. in 1976 in Agricultural Economics from NCA&T State Univ. From 1976 to 1980 he ran his own jewelry making and repair business. He went back to graduate school in 1980 and received a M.S. Degree in 1982 in Agricultural Economics from NCA&T State Univ. He received a PH.D in Agricultural Economics from Michigan State Univ. with a minor in finance and a specialty in Systems Science in 1987. He taught Agricultural Economics and conducted research on small farm financial management at NCA&T from 1986 to 1990. From 1990 to 1995 he designed, printed and distributed t-shirts nationally featuring positive Black poems on the back. He has done extensive research on Ancient African history, the pyramids of Egypt and the history of agriculture. From 1995 until now he has managed the Nation of Islam's (NOI) 1600 acre farm in Georgia and is the Student Minister of Agriculture for the NOI. He is also vice-President of the original Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association (BFAA). He is also the vice-President of the Staple Goods Project Co-op, Inc.