White, Elijah, 1806-79, American missionary in the Oregon country. A physician, he left Boston in 1836 to join the Methodist mission established by Jason Lee. After friction with his associates, he left in 1840. His fame rests on the fact that, returning overland to Oregon with an appointment as an Indian agent in 1842, he led the first large party of settlers (more than 100) to Oregon.

Stone, Melville Elijah, 1848-1929, American journalist, b. Hudson, Ill. With others he founded in 1876 the first Chicago penny paper, the Daily News, and in 1881 the Morning News (later the Record). Stone became general manager of the reorganized Associated Press in 1893, and under his direction it became one of the great news agencies. He retired in 1921.

Muhammad, Elijah, 1897-1975, American black-nationalist and religious leader, b. near Sandersville, Ga. Originally named Elijah Poole, he left home at 16 and worked at various jobs. In 1923 he settled in Detroit and became an automobile assembly-line worker. In 1931 he became a follower of Wali Farad, or W. D. Fard, who had established a Temple of Islam in Detroit. When Farad disappeared in 1934, Poole (now renamed Muhammad) assumed leadership of the movement that was to become known as the Black Muslims. He was imprisoned during World War II for encouraging resistance to the draft. Muhammad called himself the "Messenger of Allah" and preached that the only salvation for black people in the United States lay in withdrawal into an autonomous state. He retained almost autocratic control over his movement. He greatly influenced Malcolm X, although Malcolm later left the Black Muslims.

Lovejoy, Elijah Parish, 1802-37, American abolitionist, b. Albion, Maine, grad. Waterville (now Colby) College, 1826, and later studied theology at Princeton. In 1833 he became editor of the Observer, a Presbyterian weekly in St. Louis. His antislavery views (he advocated gradual emancipation) became extremely unpopular, and in 1836 he moved to Alton, Ill. There he advocated immediate abolition in his Alton Observer. Mobs destroyed three of his presses, and on Nov. 7, 1837, while guarding another new press, he was killed. Lovejoy's martyrdom helped advance the cause of the abolitionists.

Levita, Elijah (Elya Bokher), c.1468-1549, German philologist, grammarian, and lexicographer who wrote in Hebrew. He spent most of his life in Italy, teaching Christian Hebraists. His works, including the grammatical treatise Sefer ha-Bokher (1518) and the Talmudic dictionary Sefer ha-Tishbi (1541), pioneered Hebrew and Yiddish linguistic research.

Fenton, Elijah, 1683-1730, English poet. A graduate of Cambridge, he was a schoolmaster for a time and later was a tutor in several noble families. He is chiefly remembered for his share in Pope's translation of the Odyssey (1725). Besides writing a volume of Poems (1708) and a tragedy, Marianne (1723), he edited the works of Milton (1725) and Waller (1729).

Elijah ben Solomon, 1720-97, Jewish scholar, called the Gaon of Vilna, b. Lithuania. A leading Jewish scholar of his time, he opposed the spread of Hasidism in Lithuania and Poland because he feared that the creation of these new groups would weaken the Jewish community. His many influential works include commentaries on the Hebrew Bible, the Mishna and Talmud, Midrash, and the kabbalah. He upheld the primacy of Torah study and the halakah, which he held as being of supreme importance for Jewish life.

Elijah or Elias [both: Heb.,=Yahweh is God], fl. c.875 B.C., Hebrew prophet in the reign of King Ahab. He is one of the outstanding figures of the Bible. Elijah's mission was to destroy the worship of foreign gods and to restore exclusive loyalty to God. His zeal brought about a temporary banishment of idolatry (see Jezebel). Incidents in his life include his raising the widow's son from the dead; his contest of faith with the priests of Baal, resulting in his triumph and their death; his being fed by ravens; his experience of the still, small voice on Mt. Horeb (Sinai); and his departure from earth in a chariot of fire enveloped in a whirlwind. His disciple was Elisha. Unlike other great prophets, Elijah and Elisha left no written records. In Jewish tradition, Elijah is the eschatological herald of the Messiah. John the Baptist and Jesus were asked if they were the incarnation of Elijah, who appeared at the Transfiguration. The prophet is prominent in the Qur'an. Mendelssohn composed an oratorio, Elijah.

Delmedigo, Elijah ben Moses Abba, c.1460-1497, Jewish philosopher and Talmudist, b. Crete, known also as Elijah Cretensis. He emigrated to Italy as a young man. He studied the Jewish, Islamic, Greek, and Latin classics, composing numerous translations and lecturing on philosophy in Padua, where he was the head of the yeshiva. Giovanni Pico della Mirandola was among his Christian pupils, protecting him from his Christian enemies. After Pico's death (1494) he was forced to return to Crete, where he remained until his own death. In the controversy surrounding the question of religion versus philosophy, Delmedigo held that the two were not incompatible, and that any conflict should be resolved in favor of a philosophic interpretation of the religious text. His chief importance in the history of philosophy derives from his making the works of Averroës available in Latin to the Italian philosophers of the Renaissance.

Alvord, Henry Elijah, 1844-1904, American agriculturist, educator, and specialist in dairy husbandry, b. Greenfield, Mass. He pioneered in developing the cooperative creamery system and served (1886-93) as professor and president of various state agricultural colleges. In 1895 he became first chief of the dairy division of the Bureau of Animal Industry, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture.

orig. Elijah Poole

(born Oct. 7, 1897, Sandersville, Ga., U.S.—died Feb. 25, 1975, Chicago, Ill.) U.S. black separatist and leader of the Nation of Islam. The son of sharecroppers and former slaves, he moved to Detroit in 1923. He joined the Nation of Islam and established its second temple, in Chicago; on the disappearance of its founder, Wallace D. Fard, in 1934, he became head of the movement. He was jailed for advocating draft evasion during World War II, but he continued to build membership of the Black Muslims in the postwar era. His relentless call for a separate nation for African Americans, whom he declared to be Allah's chosen people, prompted his most famous disciple, Malcolm X, to break with the group in 1964. He moderated his views in his later years.

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(born Nov. 9, 1802, Albion, Maine, U.S.—died Nov. 7, 1837, Alton, Ill.) U.S. newspaper editor and abolitionist. He moved to St. Louis in 1827. In 1833 he became editor of the St. Louis Observer, a Presbyterian weekly in which he wrote articles strongly condemning slavery. Under the threat of mob violence (1836), he moved his paper from the slave state of Missouri across the river to Alton, in the free state of Illinois. There mobs repeatedly destroyed his presses, and he was shot and killed while defending his building against an attack. News of his death strengthened abolitionist sentiment.

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(born April 23, 1720, Sielec, Lith., Russian Empire—died Oct. 9, 1797, Vilna) Lithuanian scholar and Jewish leader. Born into a long line of scholars, he traveled in Poland and Germany before settling in Vilna, the cultural centre of eastern European Jewry. He refused rabbinic office and lived as a recluse while devoting himself to study and prayer, but he nevertheless became famous and revered in the Jewish community. His scholarly interests included biblical exegesis, Talmudic studies, folk medicine, grammar, and philosophy. A vehement opponent of Hasidism, he denounced its claims to miracles, visions, and spiritual ecstasy, calling instead for the intellectual love of God.

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(born Nov. 9, 1802, Albion, Maine, U.S.—died Nov. 7, 1837, Alton, Ill.) U.S. newspaper editor and abolitionist. He moved to St. Louis in 1827. In 1833 he became editor of the St. Louis Observer, a Presbyterian weekly in which he wrote articles strongly condemning slavery. Under the threat of mob violence (1836), he moved his paper from the slave state of Missouri across the river to Alton, in the free state of Illinois. There mobs repeatedly destroyed his presses, and he was shot and killed while defending his building against an attack. News of his death strengthened abolitionist sentiment.

Learn more about Lovejoy, Elijah P(arish) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

orig. Elijah Poole

(born Oct. 7, 1897, Sandersville, Ga., U.S.—died Feb. 25, 1975, Chicago, Ill.) U.S. black separatist and leader of the Nation of Islam. The son of sharecroppers and former slaves, he moved to Detroit in 1923. He joined the Nation of Islam and established its second temple, in Chicago; on the disappearance of its founder, Wallace D. Fard, in 1934, he became head of the movement. He was jailed for advocating draft evasion during World War II, but he continued to build membership of the Black Muslims in the postwar era. His relentless call for a separate nation for African Americans, whom he declared to be Allah's chosen people, prompted his most famous disciple, Malcolm X, to break with the group in 1964. He moderated his views in his later years.

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or Elias Hebrew Eliyyahu

(flourished 9th century BC) Hebrew prophet. The Bible related that he denounced foreign cults and defeated 450 prophets of Baal in a contest on Mount Carmel. In doing so, he earned the enmity of King Ahab and his consort, Jezebel, who forced him to flee into the wilderness. Later he was taken up into heaven in a whirlwind, leaving behind his successor, Elisha. His insistence that only the God of Israel is enh1d to the name of divinity expresses a fully conscious monotheism. He is also recognized as a prophet in Islam.

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