"The Master of A 1 Finger Roll" Please share with a friend.

Moses Powell 1941 – 2005

"The Master of A 1 Finger Roll"

Moses Powell, also known as Master Musa Muhammad, was an American pioneer of martial arts in the United States.

He was born in Norfolk Virginia. He held the rank of 10th degree black belt, and was famous for his one finger forward roll and demonstrations at Madison Square Gardens at “The Secret Oriental World Of Self Defence”. Moses Powell was the first martial artist invited to perform a demonstration in front of the United Nations.

He excelled in the art of boxing and was known to easily handle the more experienced boxers. In 1954, in Harlem N.Y., he met his martial arts teacher, a little man named Florendo Visitacion, also known as Professor 'Vee'.

Powell started martial arts training in the late 1940’s, combining boxing, ju jitsu, karate, kung fu, and various other martial arts. He devised a system unparalleled in its devastating efficiency and brute simplicity. Few walked away from a demonstration without being awed by its power and technique. In 1959, he founded the Sanuces System - meaning survival by simplicity, a combination of PIA nerve striking, Bando, Goshin-Do karate, Boxing, and everything else Doctor Powell acquired from Grand Professor Visitacion. His search for realism took him around the world, where he was continuously tested in various training halls. He is described as having the physique of a wrestler, lumberjack, and longshoreman, but moved with the speed of a cheetah, the gracefulness of a gazelle, the deadliness of a rattler. He taught that to achieve perfection in martial arts, one’s mind and body had to be honed and pushed beyond limits, with a commitment to mental and physical acuteness. When it came to close-quarter combat, he was ‘The Truth’. Powell describes the System technique as ‘hit like iron, flow like water, and don’t blink’. He was noted for his intense focus, application of knowledge, and his warrior spirit. In addition to the Canuces System, Grandmaster Powell also developed self defense for kids, leadership, and community development programs.

Powell was one of the first African Americans to instruct the DEA, FBI, and the Secret Service in martial arts.He was also a featured demonstrator at New York's World Fair in 1965. Notable for being a black martial artist (of minority ethnicity in the United States), he served as an instructor to movie star Wesley Snipes as well as several other top instructors like Don Jacob from Trinidad and Robert Sugar Crosson of Brooklyn NYC. He appeared in the documentary, the Warrior Within, along with Chuck Norris. As founder of the Sanuces Ryu Jujutsu system, he never co-signed any other system. He appeared on the cover of Official Karate Magazine in September 1973, February, 1976 September 1982, supported the tributes, and fundraisers of his colleagues, and lobbied for seed monies for inner-city projects.

He received the International African Benin Award in 1971 for his community work and efforts throughout the world. Shortly after he passed away, his student Professor Tom Curry completed the Official Sanuces Ryu Curriculum Book, thus honoring Powell’s earlier legacy request. Powell was inducted into the International African Arts Festival’s Living Legends Award.