Overview
Elijah Muhammad (1897-1975), born Elijah Poole, dreamed of living a better life than his slave ancestors. However, by the time he arrived in Detroit in 1923, the bitter hatred and lynchings of the South had become a part of his consciousness, and the urban poverty and rank discrimination he encountered in the North further ignited his ire and indignation. In An Original Man, historian Claude Clegg reveals the motivations of this charismatic preacher whose life has been ignored for decades by scholars and biographers. With access to previously classified F.B.I. documents and the opportunity to interview two of Elijah Muhammad's surviving sons and members of the Poole clan in Georgia, Clegg demonstrates that Elijah Muhammad was indeed one of the most influential African-Americans of this century. In this illuminating biography, Clegg not only recounts Elijah Muhammad's early years in Detroit as one of the original members of the Nation of Islam, but also tells of Muhammad's decision to bring the movement first to Chicago and then to the East Coast, his decision to resist the draft during World War II (for which he spent time in prison), the growth of the movement after the war, and the historical schism that erupted between Muhammad and Malcolm X, a break that ultimately defined two major directions of black political consciousness. Particularly valuable is Clegg's outstanding and original examination of the philosophical roots of the Nation of Islam, which are heavily influenced by the writings of Marcus Garvey, Noble Drew Ali, the Jehovah's Witnesses, and the Freemasons.Elijah Muhammad, the visionary figure whose religious ideals and political actions helped shape African-American history in this century, was born in Georgia in 1897 and dreamed of living a better life than his slave ancestors. Here Clegg demonstrates that, as the head of the Nation of Islam for more than 40 years, Muhammad, heretofore ignored for decades by scholars and biographers, was one of the most significant African Americans of our time. 16 pp. of photos. 384 pp. National publicity.
Editorials
Publishers Weekly -
The figures of Malcolm X and Louis Farrakhan have dominated recent studies of the Nation of Islam and its history. Yet little attention has focused on Elijah Muhammad, the leader largely responsible for shaping the thought of and providing direction for the Nation of Islam. Clegg, a professor of history at North Carolina A&T, here offers the first in-depth biography of Elijah Muhammad. Born in Georgia, Elijah Poole very early manifested an interest in religion, and he often engaged in theological debates with his "jackleg" preacher father on the Monday mornings after his father's Sunday sermons. Poole's religious sensibility was challenged by the brutality of the lynchings he witnessed in his Georgia town, and at 26 he left for Detroit, "having seen enough of the white man's brutality to last me for 26,000 years." Clegg traces Poole's life as he became involved in Fard Muhammad's Nation of Islam and gained authority and respect as a leader within the Nation. Taking the name Elijah Muhammad, the former Poole used the ideological combination of black nationalism, Islamic theology and Garveyism to establish the great power of his Nation of Islam and to lead it with an iron hand for 40 years. Clegg relies on interviews with two of Muhammad's sons as well as newly declassified FBI documents for this biography. In his discussions of Elijah Muhammad's rejection of non-Islamic Africans as uncivilized and of the ways in which Muhammand's conservative religious lifestyles separated him from the radical activities of other black separatist groups such as the Black Power Movement, Clegg provides glimpses into the life and genius of one of America's influential political and religious leaders.Anthony Walton
...well researched and tightly written...[Clegg] is deeply informed on the ins and outs of the group.—Harper's Magazine
Kirkus Reviews
A meticulous, absorbing reconstruction of the life of the "Messenger of Allah" who led the Nation of Islam for more than four decades, until his death in 1975.Clegg (History/North Carolina A&T State Univ.) has crafted a careful portrait of the enigmatic Elijah Muhammad (born Elijah Poole), a man revered by some as a divinely appointed messenger and derided by others as a black supremacist hate-monger (promulgating a chauvinist "white-devil" racial theory). Clegg maneuvers skillfully between these extremes to delineate the complexities of the leader's historical world while still offering a subtle critique of the more disturbing ideologies of the Nation, especially its propensities for violence and avaricious acquisition. This first full-length scholarly biography of Elijah Muhammad benefits greatly from interviews with the leader's family and from recently declassified FBI files on the Nation. J. Edgar Hoover's relentless pursuit of the "Black Muslims" included tapping Elijah Muhammad's phone at his Phoenix retreat, infiltrating the Nation with undercover officers, and following its leader at all times. The records of this surveillance, especially the phone tapping, reveal a complex and somewhat duplicitous Elijah Muhammad—reassuring Malcolm X of his secure role in the movement and then urging another follower to "close Malcolm's eyes and chop off his head." Clegg also details the controversies surrounding Elijah Muhammad's extramarital affairs with at least eight women, by whom he sired more than a dozen children. What Clegg is perhaps less adept at demonstrating is why, despite all the scandals, Elijah Muhammad remained so beloved by his followers, who were aware of his indiscretions but overwhelmingly rallied to his support.
In all, though, this is both an outstanding biography and an important contribution to the history of the Nation of Islam.