February 11 …

Ella Little-Collins was a civil rights activist and organizer whose steady financial, organizational, and moral support sustained key Black institutions and helped shape the life and legacy of her half-brother, Malcolm X.

Born Ella Mae Little on February 11, 1914, in Butler, GA, she relocated to New York before ultimately settling in Boston, where she worked as a secretary for Congressman Adam Clayton Powell Jr., managed a family grocery store, and ventured into real estate, which funded much of her later activism. Although she did not engage in extensive formal education, she developed practical skills in business and community organizing, utilizing these resources to foster political and cultural initiatives in Roxbury and beyond.

Among Little-Collins’s significant achievements were founding Boston’s Nation of Islam mosque in the 1950s, prior to her departure from the Nation in 1959 to adopt Sunni Islam. She also established the Sarah A. Little School of Preparatory Arts in Boston, which focused on teaching Arabic and African languages and cultural subjects during the late 1950s to 1960s.

Little-Collins provided vital financial and logistical support to Malcolm X — including sponsoring his pilgrimage to Mecca and covering funeral and organizational expenses after his assassination. Following Malcolm’s death, she served as the interim president of the Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU) and later merged this group with the African American Defense League. She also funded scholarships and programs that facilitated study abroad in Egypt and Ghana.

Little-Collins’s network of influences and close associates included family and significant figures in mid-20th century Black politics and culture. Malcolm X was both a charge and collaborator. She worked alongside activists and intellectuals linked to the OAAU and Black studies initiatives. She also engaged with leaders such as Adam Clayton Powell Jr. and many notable figures from the Harlem and Boston Black communities.

Little-Collins mentored younger activists through her school, OAAU programs, and by sponsoring students’ travel and education. Her contemporaries included leaders from the Nation of Islam, Pan-African activists, and grassroots organizers of the 1950s to 1970s.

Little-Collins’s accolades are primarily commemorative and institutional. Her Roxbury home is preserved as the Malcolm X—Ella Little-Collins House, designated a Boston Landmark and later listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Ella Collins Institute at the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center also honors her name.

The legacy of Ella Little-Collins persists in archives, oral histories, and community memories as an essential yet often overlooked organizer whose practical support and advocacy bolstered transnational Black solidarity, educational initiatives, and grassroots empowerment.