Anniversary of Hon. Elijah Muhammad's Death

“You are not American citizens or members of the white man’s world. The only American citizens are the white people who are originally from Europe. So why fight a losing battle by trying to be recognized as something you are not and never will be. I am not trying to disillusion you but merely telling you the truth” - Hon. Elijah Muhammad

(Hon. Elijah Muhammad)

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad was born as Elijah Poole in Sandersville, Georgia, USA on October 7th, 1897. He had to leave school in the 3rd grade to work in sawmills and brickyards. Poole left his family at 16 years old and went to work in factories. In 1917 Poole married Clara Evans.

(Muhammad (Left) with his wife Clara Evans (Right))

Poole moved his own family, parents and siblings to Hamtramck, MI. In 1931 Poole attended a speech about Islam and Black empowerment by Wallace D. Fard, leader of the Nation of Islam (NOI). Poole learned from Fard that Blacks were the original Asiatics and had a rich cultural history which was stolen from them in their enslavement by Europeans. Poole then became a follower of Fard. Poole’s last name was then changed first to “Karriem” then to “Muhammad”. Muhammad then assumed leadership of the NOI’s Temple No. 2 in Chicago, IL. Fard turned over leadership of the NOI to Elijah Muhammad in 1934. Muhammad was also named “Minister of Islam”. In the same year the NOI released its 1st newspaper Final Call to Islam. In 1935 Muhammad took control of Temple No. 1. Facing death threats from rival potential leaders, Muhammad and his family moved to Milwaukee, WI where he founded Temple No. 3.

(Muhammad in 1935)

Eventually he moved to Washington D.C. where he founded Temple No. 4. In 1942 Muhammad was arrested due to failure to register for the draft during WWII. Muhammad left D.C. and returned to Chicago, IL. Muhammad was arrested in Chicago, IL and served 4 years in prison for draft dodging. He was released in 1946. During his time in jail, his wife ran the organization. By 1955 the NOI grew to 15 temples in the US.

(Muhammad in 1955)

By 1959 the NOI grew to 50 temples in the US. Muhammad preached his own version of Islam and his teachings appealed to young, economically disadvantaged, African American males from Christian backgrounds.  Muhammad purchased land and businesses to provide housing and employment for young black males. Muhammad was a mentor to many notable civil rights activists such as Malcolm X, Louis Farrakhan and Muhammad Ali.

(Muhammad (Left) with Malcolm X (Right))

In the 1970’s the NOI owned bakeries, barber shops, coffee shops, grocery stores, laundromats, a printing plant, retail stores, numerous real estate holdings, and a fleet of tractor trailers, plus farmland in Michigan, Alabama, and Georgia. By 1974 the NOI established schools in 47 cities throughout the US. In 1972 the NOI had a net worth of $75 million. On January 30th, 1975 Muhammad entered the Mercy Hospital in Chicago IL suffering from a combination of heart disease, diabetes, bronchitis, and asthma.

(Muhammad in 1975)

On February, 25th, 1975 Elijah Muhammad died of congestive heart failure. He was 77 years old.

(Muhammad’s funeral)

Today is the 42nd anniversary of his death. Take time to remember this great religious leader today.

Books by Elijah Muhammad

• Message to the Black Man in America (1965)
• How to Eat to Live (1967)
• The Fall of America (1973)
• Our Saviour has Arrived (1974)

Videos of Elijah Muhammad

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaM-E18cx6c  “Elijah Muhammad”
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0-GGR17tG4  “Elijah Muhammad and Muhammad Ali @ Harlem, June 28, 1964”
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bWILis3m8E  “Elijah Muhammad- The Making of Planets”

Happy Birthday W.E.B. Du Bois

“To be a poor man is hard, but to be a poor race in a land of dollars is the very bottom of hardships” - W.E.B. Du Bois

(W.E.B. Du Bois)

W.E.B. Du Bois, was born as William Edward Burghardt Du Bois on February 23rd 1868 in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, USA. Du Bois attended Fisk University in Nashville, TN from 1885 to 1888.

(Du Bois as a young man)

From 1888 to 1890 he attended Harvard University.

(Du Bois in 1888)

In 1892 Du Bois received a fellowship to attend the University of Berlin. In 1895 he became the 1st African American to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard. In 1896 he performed sociological field research in Philadelphia's African American neighborhoods, which formed the foundation for his landmark study, The Philadelphia Negro (1899). In 1897 Du Bois expanded upon his thesis that African Americans should embrace their African heritage while contributing to American society. Also during this year he took a professorship in history and economics at Atlanta University in Georgia. Du Bois received grants from the U.S. government to prepare reports about the African American workforce and culture. In 1900 Du Bois attended the First Pan-African Conference held in London, England.

(Du Bois in 1900)

During the early 1900’s Du Bois opposed many ideas of a fellow leader in the Black community, Booker T. Washington. In 1901, Du Bois wrote a review critical of Washington's book Up from Slavery (1901). In 1903 Du Bois wrote a collection of 14 essays and published them as a book called The Souls of Black Folk. The book's effect on African Americans was comparable to that of Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852). In 1905 Du Bois and several other civil rights activists met in Canada near Niagara Falls. They wrote a declaration of principles opposing the Atlanta Compromise, and incorporated as the Niagara Movement in 1906.

(Du Bois (Middle row, 2nd from the right) in 1906)

After multiple violent events against Blacks in 1906 Du Bois urged blacks to withdraw their support from the Republican Party, because Republicans Roosevelt and William Howard Taft did not sufficiently support blacks. In 1909 he wrote a biography of abolitionist John Brown. Also in 1909 Du Bois was the first African American invited by the American Historical Association (AHA) to present a paper at their annual conference. In 1910, at the second National Negro Conference, the attendees created the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

(The NAACP)

Du Bois suggested using the word colored to involve other colored races to help with the organization. NAACP leaders offered Du Bois the position of Director of Publicity and Research and he accepted. In 1911 he attended the First Universal Races Congress in London, England. In 1915 Du Bois wrote that the scramble for Africa was at the root of World War I. Du Bois led to fight against the release of the movie The Birth of a Nation (1915) because of its racist portrayal of blacks as brutish and lustful.

(Du Bois in 1915)

Du Bois traveled to Europe in 1919 to attend the first Pan-African Congress and to interview African American soldiers for a planned book on their experiences in World War I. After returning from Europe, Du Bois was more determined than ever to gain equal rights for African Americans. In 1920, Du Bois published Darkwater: Voices From Within the Veil. Between 1922 and 1924 Du Bois wrote in the NAACP’s magazine, The Crisis, about how Marcus Garvey was the “most dangerous enemy of the Negro race in America and the world”. A rivalry emerged in 1931 between the NAACP and the Communist Party, when the Communists responded quickly and effectively to support the Scottsboro Boys, which were 9 African American youth arrested in 1931 in Alabama for the rape of 2 white women. Du Bois and the NAACP felt that the case would not be beneficial to their cause. In 1934 Du Bois resigned from the NAACP.

(Du Bois in 1934)

Du Bois took a trip around the world in 1936, which included visits to Nazi Germany, China and Japan. In 1941 Du Bois opposed the U.S. intervention in World War II, particularly in the Pacific, because he believed that China and Japan were emerging from the clutches of white imperialists. In 1942 the FBI began to compile a file on Du Bois. In 1943 Du Bois was fired from his position at Atlanta University which caused outrage by other scholars. Turning down job offers from Fisk and Howard, Du Bois re joined the NAACP as director of the Department of Special Research.

(Du Bois in 1943)

In 1945, Du Bois attended the final, Pan-African Congress, in Manchester, England. There Du Bois met Kwame Nkrumah, the future 1st president of Ghana who would later invite Du Bois to Africa. During the 1950s, the U.S. government's anti communist McCarthyism campaign targeted Du Bois because of his socialist leanings. In 1950 Du Bois ran for US Senator from New York on the American Labor Party ticket. In 1953 when Joseph Stalin died Du Bois wrote a eulogy of him. In 1958 Du Bois visited China.

(Mao Tse Tung (Left) and Du Bois (Right))

In 1963 Du Bois visited Ghana and met with Kwame Nkrumah.

(Du Bois (Left) and Kwame Nkrumah (Right))

On August 27th 1963 Du Bois died in Accra, Ghana. He was 95 years old.

(Du Bois’ funeral)

Today is his 149th birthday and we would all like to say happy birthday and rest in peace W.E.B. Du Bois.

Books by W.E.B. Du Bois

• The Study of the Negro Problem (1898)
• The Philadelphia Negro (1899)
• The Negro in Business (1899)
• The Souls of Black Folk (1903)
• The Talented Tenth (1903)
• Voice of the Negro II (1905)
• John Brown: A Biography (1909)
• Efforts for Social Betterment Among Negro Americans (1909)
• Atlanta University’s Studies of the Negro Problem (1910)
• The Negro (1915)
• The Gift of Black Folk (1924)
• Africa, Its Geography, People and Products (1930)
• Africa: Its Place in Modern History (1930)
• Black Reconstruction in America (1935)
• What the Negro Has Done for the United States and Texas (1936)
• Black Folk, Then and Now (1939)
• Color and Democracy: Colonies and Peace (1945)
• The Encyclopedia of the Negro (1946)
• The World and Africa (1946)
• The World and Africa, an Inquiry into the Part Which Africa Has Played in World History (1947)
• Peace is Dangerous (1951)
• I Take My Stand for Peace (1951)
• In Battle for Peace (1952)
• Africa in Battle Against Colonialism, Racialism, Imperialism (1960)

Happy Birthday Nina Simone

“There's no excuse for the young people not knowing who the heroes and heroines are or were” - Nina Simone

(Nina Simone)

Nina Simone born as Eunice Kathleen Waymon in Tyron, North Carolina, USA on February 21st, 1933. At 3 years old she began to play the piano. After high school she moved to New York City, NY and enrolled in Juilliard School of Music.

(Simone as a teenager)

To pay for her classes she performed at the Midtown Bar & Grill on Pacific Avenue in Atlantic City, NJ. In 1954 she adopted the name Nina Simone, “Nina” being a nickname a boyfriend gave her and “Simone” from the French actress Simone Signoret. Simone mixed the sounds of Jazz, Blues and Classical music while playing. In 1958 she was married but she quickly regretted the marriage. In 1958 she released her 1st album “Little Girl Blue”.

(Simone in 1958)

In 1959 Simone signed with Colpix records. She released her live album “Nina Simone at Town Hall” in 1959. In 1961 Simone remarried and her husband later became her manager. In 1964 she signed with Philips records. Her debut album for her new record label “Nina Simone in Concert” was released in 1964 and on this album she addressed the racial inequality in the United States with the song "Mississippi Goddam", her response to the murder of Medgar Evers and the bombing of a church in Birmingham, AL that killed four pre-teen black girls and partially blinded a fifth girl.

(Simone in 1964)

This song was boycotted in several southern states. Another song on the album “Old Jim Crow” addressed the Jim Crow laws of the US that segregated colored people from using facilities designated for White people. Simone performed and spoke at many civil rights meetings, such as at the Selma to Montgomery marches.

(Simone in 1965)

Simone advocated violent revolution and self defense during the civil rights period. She hoped that African Americans could, by armed combat, form a separate state. In 1967 she again changed record labels, now signing for RCA Victor. She sang "Backlash Blues", written by her friend Langston Hughes on her first RCA album called “Nina Simone Sings the Blues” (1967). With Weldon Irvine, Simone turned the late Lorraine Hansberry's unfinished play To Be Young, Gifted and Black into a civil rights song in 1969.

(Simone in 1969)

In 1970 Simone had been issued a warrant for her arrest for unpaid taxes. She left to Barbados to evade prosecution. She performed regularly in London, England during the 1980’s.

(Simone in 1982)

Simone then moved to Liberia and later to Switzerland and The Netherlands. In 1992 she settled in Carry-le-Rouet, Bouches-du-Rhône, France. Also in 1992 she published her autobiography called I Put a Spell on You. In 1993 she released her last album “A Single Woman”.

(Simone in 1993)

In the late 1990’s Simone was diagnosed with breast cancer. On April 21st, 2003 Simone died in her sleep. She was 70 years old. Today she would’ve been 84 years old and we would all like to say happy birthday and rest in peace Nina Simone.  

Albums by Nina Simone

• “Little Girl Blues” (1958)
• “Nina Simone and Her Friends” (1959)
• “The Amazing Nina Simone” (1959)
• “Nina Simone at Town Hall” (1959)
• “Nina Simone at Newport” (1960)
• “Forbidden Fruit” (1960)
• “Nina at the Village Gate” (1962)
• “Nina Simone Sings Ellington” (1962)
• “Nina Simone at Carnegie Hall” (1963)
• “Folksy Nina” (1964)
• “Nina Simone in Concert” (1964)
• “Broadway-Blues-Ballads” (1964)
• “I Put a Spell on You” (1965)
• “Sincerely Nina” (1965)
• “Pastel Blues” (1965)
• “Nina Simone with Strings” (1966)
• “Let it All Out” (1966)
• “Wild is the Wind” (1966)
• “High Priestess of Soul” (1967)
• “Nina Simone Sings the Blues” (1967)
• “Silk & Soul” (1967)
• “‘Nuff Said!” (1968)
• “Nina Simone and Piano” (1969)
• “To Love Somebody” (1969)
• “A Very Rare Evening” (1969)
• “Gifted & Black” (1970)
• “Black Gold” (1970)
• “Here Comes the Sun” (1971)
• “Emergency Ward” (1972)
• “Sings Billie Holiday-Lady Sings the Blues” (1972)
• “Live at Berkeley” (1973)
• “Gospel According to Nina Simone” (1973)
• “It is Finished” (1974)
• “Baltimore” (1978)
• “The Rising Sun Collection” (1980)
• “Fodder on My Wings” (1982)
• “Backlash” (1984)
• “Nina’s Back” (1985)
• “Live & Kickin” (1985)
• “Let It Be Me” (1987)
• “Live at Ronnie Scott’s” (1987)
• “ A Single Woman” (1993)

Books by Nina Simone

• I Put a Spell on You (1992)

Videos of Nina Simone

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJ25-U3jNWM  “Nina Simone: Mississippi Goddam”
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gd7pW3Ndd-4  “Nina Simone: Revolution”
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1r12WHaYN0  “Nina Simone - To Be Young Gifted and Black מתורגם”
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3ClwX7oyXk  “Nina Simone: That Blackness”