As we journey into the month of October many of us will be looking forward to enjoying the beauty of the fall/weather as the leaves change colors or perhaps looking forward to celebrating Halloween and eating pumpkin seeds or maybe commemorating the 24th anniversary of the Million Man March. I wanted to take this time to remind the readers of this newspaper of a particular black man who was born during the month of October, who is often overlooked in the pages of history...but whose impact cannot be denied. That man is...ELIJAH MUHAMMAD, Loved by many, misunderstood by most.
Elijah Muhammad (Elijah Poole) was born on October 1897 in Sandersville, Georgia to William & Maria Poole, the 7th of thirteen children. The name "Elijah" was given to him at birth and according to one of his sons (Imam W. Deen Mohammed) he was NEVER known as “Robert Poole" as you read in some mainstream/history books. He displayed a strong race consciousness and read the Bible often as a young boy. He only advanced to the 4th grade of school. Left school to help his family earn a living (sharecropping). On May 2, 1917, Elijah Poole married a woman named Clara Evans and by April 1923 he moved his family (wife and son) to Detroit, Michigan. Seeking to earn a better living in the factories up North. In September 1931 he met a man named Mr. W.D. Fard (later to be known as Master W. Fard Muhammad) began to receive teachings from him for the next 3 years & 3-4 months that not only changed his personal life, but the life of his family and the black people living in the section of Detroit called “Black Bottom.” Elijah Poole became Elijah Muhammad.
The Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Temple of Islam in Detroit eventually caught the
Elijah Muhammad
attention of the Detroit Police Department...due to the fact of black people abandoning the "religion" of their former slavemasters, changing their last names and setting up their own school. You can expect opposition when you start disturbing the plantation. The first newspaper of the Nation of Islam was called The Final Call to Islam, published in 1934. Master W. Fard Muhammad gave Elijah Muhammad 104 books to study. Most of these books were later found in Washington, D.C. at the Library of Congress. From 1935 1942 the Hon. Elijah Muhammad spent most of his time outside of Detroit traveling to various cities, including Cincinnati, Ohio. This is how Temple No. 5 got established. Arrested in 1942, while in D.C., upon orders from President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The U.S. Government wanted him off the street during America's involvement in World War II. It really had nothing to do with not registering for the draft as the authorities later said. Released in 1946 and continued his work of waking up black people in America.
In May 1959 Elijah Muhammad spoke at Uline Arena in D.C. and received a police escort down Pennsylvania Ave. Unheard of at the time for a black man to receive such treatment. The same city he was arrested several years earlier. If one were to seriously study the Nation of Islam, under the leadership of the Hon. Elijah Muhammad, especially during the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s...their accomplishments are unmatched in comparison to other black leaders/black organizations at that time. The Nation of Islam had farmland in Georgia, Alabama, and Michigan. Temples in 150 cities across America (including here in Akron on W. Bartges St.) and overseas in England, Honduras (where Dr. Sebi was born), Jamaica, Bermuda, and Mexico. The work of the Hon. Elijah Muhammad and the N.O.I. was also being talked about in Russia, Documents later released via the Freedom of Information Act revealed Russia had more than a "casual" interest in the Nation of Islam. Grocery stores, cleaners, and restaurants in various cities to service the needs of our people. At one time the N.O.I. was the largest importer of whiting fish in North America. This is all documented, put on record in the '70s via a documentary that was released (1974), a booklet titled Accomplishments of the Muslims (Spring 1975) and the N.O.I. National Secretary (Abass Rassoull) speaking and giving a list of accomplishments at the Saviour's Day convention in 1974. In 1973 the Nation of Islam also bought a bank (Guaranty Bank & Trust) in Chicago.
Regardless of what people say and believe about Elijah Muhammad...the fact is he met somebody in Detroit that brought about a change in him and others. You can tell a tree by the fruit it bears. He taught supreme wisdom and divine knowledge. Nobody who only went to the 4th grade of school could "make up" what he taught. Negros are not that smart to teach what he taught. If you want to study the man, start with his book Message to the Blackman in America and listen to his #1 Representative...the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan. Stop writing him out of history. I don't give "two cents" on the biographies I've heard on the Hon. Elijah Muhammad during the last few years on the Tom Joyner Morning Show. Watered down, inaccurate and not in-depth enough on the man. Men such as... Minister Louis Farrakhan, Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, Imam W. Deen Mohammed, Dr. Sebi and Yahweh ben Yahweh were affected by this man in one form or another. And there are others out there, whether they acknowledge Elijah Muhammad or not.
