Clara Muhammad

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Clara Muhammad (November 2, 1899 – August 1972), aka Clara Poole, was born Clara Evans in Macon, Georgia. She was the wife of Nation of Islam (NOI) leader Elijah Muhammad. They married in Georgia in 1917, before he changed his name from Elijah Poole. Between 1917 and 1939, Elijah and Clara Muhammad had eight children: six boys and two girls, including Warith Deen Muhammad.

"Mother Clara" often faced virulent opposition to the Nation of Islam. She and her husband took their children out of the Detroit Public School System and became pioneers for homeschooling; homeschooling was illegal at that time. During their lifetime the NOI was home to over 100,000 members and had assets in excess of 50 million dollars. While her husband was incarcerated she led the NOI under his direction.

Reliable resource material on Clara Muhammad may be found in Professor Rosetta E. Ross's book Witnessing & Testifying: Black Women, Religion, and Civil Rights, published by Fortress Press in 2003.