Little Family Homesite

On this site, in 1930, Earl and Louise Little built the house that was home to Malcolm X and his siblings: Wilfred, Hilda, Philbert, Reginald, Yvonne, Wesley, and Robert. Malcolm was born in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1925. The Littles were leaders of the Lansing chapter of Marcus Garvey´s Universal Negro Improvement Association and advocates for Black economic self-sufficiency. In Lansing they lost their first home when a court ruled that the could own land but no live in a white area. Arsonists destroyed the house. In 1931 the Reverend Earl died under suspicious circumstances. Louise tried to hold the family together and foster Black pride in her children, but in 1937 welfare services began breaking up the family. Malcolm lived with families in Mason until the age of sixteen, when he left school. He moved east and in 1947 was imprisoned for petty crimes.

[Back]: While in prison Malcolm Little started reading history and philosophy. Guided by his brothers, he began following the teachings of Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam (NOI). After his 1952 parole, he used the names Malcolm X and Malik-el-Shabazz. He achieved global prominence as an NOI preacher and spokesperson. In 1964 he left the NOI and founded the Muslim Mosque Inc. and the nonsectarian Organization of Afro-American Unity. Converting to Sunni faith, he made a pilgrimage to Mecca. Malcolm X´s commitment to articulating racial discontent, building Black pride and self-sufficiency, and organizing for human rights began with his family and grew to encompass the oppressed throughout the world. He often visited Lansing and his Michigan family members. He and Betty Sanders were married at the Lansing courthouse in 1958. He was assassinated in 1965.