Ella Little-Collins (1914 – 1996) was an American civil rights activist and the half-sister of
Malcolm X
Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little, later Malik el-Shabazz; May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965) was an American Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a prominent figure during the civil rights movement. A spokesman for the Nation of Is ...
.
She was born in
Butler, Georgia
Butler is the county seat of Taylor County, Georgia, United States. Its population was 1,972 at the 2010 census.
Geography
Butler is located at (32.557, -84.239).
The city is located along U.S. Route 19, which is the main route through the city ...
, to Earl Little and Daisy Little (née Mason); her paternal grandparents were John (Big Pa) Lee Little and Ella Little (née Gray), and her siblings were Mary Little and Earl Lee Little Jr. She had seven half-siblings from her father's second marriage: Wilfred, Philbert, Hilda, Reginald,
Malcolm
Malcolm, Malcom, Máel Coluim, or Maol Choluim may refer to:
People
* Malcolm (given name), includes a list of people and fictional characters
* Clan Malcolm
* Maol Choluim de Innerpeffray, 14th-century bishop-elect of Dunkeld
Nobility
* Máe ...
, Wesley, and Yvonne.
She worked as congressman
Adam Clayton Powell's secretary, the manager of her mother's grocery store, and an investor in house property, which she let out as rooming houses.
She joined the
Nation of Islam
The Nation of Islam (NOI) is a religious and political organization founded in the United States by Wallace Fard Muhammad in 1930.
A black nationalist organization, the NOI focuses its attention on the African diaspora, especially on African ...
in the mid-1950s and helped establish its mosque in Boston and a day-care center attached to it, although she left the Nation in 1959 to become a
Sunni Muslim
Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word ''Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagree ...
.
She supported black and ethnic studies programs in universities across the United States and founded the
Sarah A. Little School of Preparatory Arts in Boston.
In his
autobiography
An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life.
It is a form of biography.
Definition
The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...
, Malcolm X wrote about the impact his first meeting with his half-sister had on him. She came to visit when he was in seventh grade, and he described her as "the first really proud black woman I had ever seen" and wrote "I had never been so impressed with anybody." At the end of the school year, he moved to
Roxbury to live with her, and she was his guardian until he turned 21.
Her home, the
Malcolm X—Ella Little-Collins House, is the last known surviving childhood home of Malcolm X. Its exterior was designated a Boston Landmark by the Boston Landmarks Commission in 1998, and was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 2021.
When Malcolm X left the Nation of Islam in 1964, Little-Collins paid for him to make the
Hajj
The Hajj (; ar, حَجّ '; sometimes also spelled Hadj, Hadji or Haj in English) is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for Muslims that must be carried ...
. She also paid his funeral and business expenses after his assassination, and took over his
Organization of Afro-American Unity
__NOTOC__
The Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU) was a Pan-Africanist organization founded by Malcolm X in 1964. The OAAU was modeled on the Organization of African Unity, which had impressed Malcolm X during his visit to Africa ...
, including his project of giving 35 scholarships from
Al-Azhar University
, image = جامعة_الأزهر_بالقاهرة.jpg
, image_size = 250
, caption = Al-Azhar University portal
, motto =
, established =
*970/972 first foundat ...
in Cairo, Egypt, and from the
University of Ghana
The University of Ghana is a public university located in Accra, Ghana. It the oldest and largest of the thirteen Ghanaian national public universities.
The university was founded in 1948 as the University College of the Gold Coast in the Br ...
to students wishing to study overseas.
In 1986 she merged the
Organization of Afro-American Unity
__NOTOC__
The Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU) was a Pan-Africanist organization founded by Malcolm X in 1964. The OAAU was modeled on the Organization of African Unity, which had impressed Malcolm X during his visit to Africa ...
with the African American Defense League.
In 1988, both of Little-Collins' legs were amputated due to gangrene.
She died in 1996.
The Ella Collins Institute at the
Islamic Society of Boston
The Islamic Society of Boston (ISB) is an organization that runs two mosques in the Boston area. The original mosque called Islamic Society of Boston is in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 2007, the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center (ISBCC) wa ...
Cultural Center is named after her; its goal is "to establish a vibrant community by joining a classical understanding of Islam with modern scholarship and a healthy understanding of the current cultural context."
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
*''Say Brother'' Episode; Malcolm X (1969)
Ella Collins interview American Archive of Public Broadcasting
The American Archive of Public Broadcasting (AAPB) is a collaboration between the Library of Congress and WGBH Educational Foundation, founded through the efforts of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The AAPB is a national effort to digitall ...
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Little-Collins, Ella
1914 births
1996 deaths
American civil rights activists
Women civil rights activists
People from Taylor County, Georgia
Malcolm X family
American amputees
People from Roxbury, Boston