The Honorable Elijah Muhammad

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Recommended: Factors affecting critical thinking

Critical thinkers have been known to possess an array of captivating qualities in which have been known to influence many others. The honorable Elijah Muhammad was one of the most astonishing critical thinkers of our time. He was known for his controversial teachings and leadership during a time of racial inequality and social progression. As the leader of The Nation of Islam he influenced the African American community with his teachings of self-independence and advancement of African Americans as the superior race. He has been the inspiration and influence of a few other great critical thinkers such as Malcolm X, Louis Farrakhan, and Muhammad Ali were all followers of Elijah Muhammad’s teachings. The legacy left behind by the great Elijah Muhammad has influenced the people of African descent long after his death.
Elijah Muhammad was born as Robert Poole on October 7, 1897 in Sandersville, Georgia. His parents had thirteen children and later moved the family to Cordele, GA where Elijah grew up. His father William was a sharecropper and his mother Mariah did domestic work in order to provide for the family. He attended school until the fourth grade where he then dropped out to work in sawmills and brickyards to earn money. He then later met a woman by the name of Clara Evans in which he married and had eight children.
In 1923 he moved his family to Detroit Michigan where he went to work in an auto factory. Later in 1931 he met a man by the name of Wallace D. Fard, founder of the black separatist movement Nation of Islam in which later mentored Muhammad and gave him his name. Muhammad adopted Fard’s teachings and converted to the Nation of Islam. Three years later Fard mysteriously disappeared and the Nation of Islam split into...

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...erful over the course of decades. Some of the main endeavors consisted of, the establishment of farms, livestock and vegetable cultivation, food processing centers, health care and administrative offices. In 1972, Muhammad opened a $2 million mosque and school for the Muslims who lived in Chicago.
During his time of leading the Nation of Islam, Elijah Muhammad may have been one of the most ethnologically involved and influential critical thinkers of our time. His great contributions helped the African American race during of time of social struggles that could have been detrimental to its future. He became an influence to other great critical thinker in which helped carry his legacy on. All in all Elijah Muhammad established himself as a great critical thinker by his contributions, integrity, leadership and perseverance during a time of social economic disruption.

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