Malcolm’s Mama Lit His Fire

By Dr. Julianne Malveaux —

Malcolm X, the fearless leader that the actor and activist Ossie Davis described as one of Harlem’s “brightest hopes”, the “stormy, controversial and bold young captain”, and most movingly “our own Black shining prince.” would have been 100 years old on May 19.  People commemorated that birthday in Harlem, at the Charles Wright Museum in Detroit, at Malcolm X college in Chicago, in his Omaha birthplace, and in many other places.  Our icon is best known for his love for Black people, his fiery rhetoric, his unwavering commitment to Black liberation, and his unwillingness to compromise his principles.  Assassinated at 39, his influence has increased—not diminished—since his death, and given these tumultuous and threatening times, his influence may be needed now more than ever.  Malcolm X passionately advocated Black self-sufficiency, a timely message as we manage the challenges that come with these times.

Where did Malcolm’s fire come from?  I say it came from his fearless mother, Louise Langdon Little, a woman born in the southern Caribbean Island of Grenada, who emigrated to Canada, married Garveyite Earl Little, and worked alongside him establishing divisions of the United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) in Omaha, Milwaukee, and Lansing, Michigan.  The Grenadian Louise was appropriately prideful of her lineage and shared that pride with her children.  She was a fighter, resisting the prevalent myth of white supremacy, debriefing her children when they came home from school, pointing out the flaws in the biased teaching they were receiving.  She also fought the powers that be, whites who would remove her and her husband from property they bought in an area that had a restrictive covenant.  She resisted the orders and edicts of neighbors, judges, teachers and social workers.  The survival of the Little family was a provocation to the white powers who were used to bullying and bludgeoning Black people who colored outside the lines.

I was privileged to be part of a pilgrimage to Grenada May 14-18.  Organized by the Institute of the Black World, led by its President Dr. Ron Daniels, about forty of us visited the site of Mrs. Little’s home, which is being developed into a monument, and also laid a wreath at Fort Rupert, where Prime Minister Maurice Bishop and eighteen others were martyred.  Grenada (which includes the islands of Carriacou and Petit Martinique) is a small country, with about 115,000 residents.  It is island-typical except for the remarkable history of resistance, with a Prime Minister and his cabinet assassinated because they would not bow to US influences.  The United States has apologized for assassinating Bishop, but his body has never been found.

Malcolm X was indelibly influenced by his Garveyite parents.  The UNIA’s motto – One God, One Aim, One Destiny – is an assertion of Black unity.  Earl and Louise Little, traveling missionaries for the UNIA, made the cause of Black unity a foundation of their lives and indeed, of their marriage.  Even when they experienced marital challenges, they were able to come together for the cause, Earl as an organizer and speaker, and Louise as a writer for the Garvey weekly publication, The Negro World. She modestly signed her articles, Louise Langdon Little, reporter, and not only reported the work of her husband, but also shared ideas about the direction of the movement.  In addition to being an accomplished writer, she was also a riveting speaker.  She aspired to be a teacher, but she did not have that opportunity.  Instead, she taught her children, and she taught them well.

After Earl Little was murdered and Louise was unable to collect on the insurance policy that they painstakingly purchased, she struggled with poverty.  Her poverty was seen by racist social workers as child neglect and she was incarcerated in a mental institution from 1939 until 1964.  Her children never forgot her, and her eldest, Wilfred, petitioned the courts multiple times to release her.  Malcolm X wrote to his brother Philbert in 1949, noting that Louise had suffered at the hands of the state because the authorities knew she was “not deadening our minds”.  Instead, she stimulated the minds and encouraged the critical thinking that is so abhorred by white supremacists.

Was it Louise that Malcolm X had in mind when he said that the Black woman was the most neglected, disrespected, and unprotected on the planet?  Certainly, he was aware of the many ways white supremacists broke up his family.  Still, he had much appreciation for his mother.  He told brother Philbert, “My accomplishments are ours, and yours are mine, but all of our achievements are Mom’s, for she was a most Faithful Servant of the Truth years ago. I praise Allah for her.”

Louise Langdon Little was the force that lit Malcolm X’s fire. He was the embodiment of her resistance, her resilience, her intelligence, her writing and speaking ability. If he was our “bright shining Black prince”, she was our Queen. In the words of the poet Mari Evans, look on her and be renewed.