The Relevance of The House of Earl Little to the legend of Malcolm X

When Israelites ask "Ma Shimka?" ("What's your name"?) we begin our inquiry by asking about the house that a man came from. And the response is never just a first name - but the first name followed by the name of who owns you - whether it be a head of house, husband, or family surname (which link back to the head of house). We begin our introductions with this inquiry and response because we have it implanted in our minds culturally that lone wolves are a glitch in the divine matrix – for men never appear out of nowhere. We also know that sons are any combination of the good or better parts of their fathers. So, as it pertains to Earl Little, Malcolm’s father, Malcolm was the fruit that did not fall too far from the tree. His being reared in his father’s house by his highly educated Grenadian born mother Louise Little, set him on a path of self-definition, self-reliance, and self-determination.

Earl Little, was a carpenter by trade, building houses, including the houses the family lived in. His method would be to build the house as the family lived in it. Malcolm’s brother Wilfred told the story of how they lived in the final house that their father would build in – in Lansing Michigan. He is quoted as saying “I remember when he would get paid, he would buy some more flooring. I remember when he brought the flooring in, he did the living room and the dining room. The next week when he got paid, he took that money and got some more flooring and did the bedrooms on one side of the house, and the next week he did them on the other side and did the kitchen. Each week he would do more and he was gradually getting that house together. That way, he could do it without getting in debt, and it would be his. He believed in being independent.” They had their own chickens and cows and Louise would can enough of what they needed to carry them through the winter months.

Even though Mr. Little’s death (assassinated by a local white supremacist mob) came during Malcolm’s youth – he saw and heard enough from and about his father’s activities in the UNIA and organizing other Black families in the Midwest – and his family’s activities around the organization - to receive a seed that would later grow to maturity from the watering of Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam. This cannot be overlooked. It’s mainly his father’s example that planted the image in Malcolm’s mind in what he would come to be known as. His awareness of organizational processes, his awareness of selfless leadership, and his understanding of justice was all from seeds planted in him in his youth. His mother, who met Earl through their involvement in the U.N.I.A., served as the branch reporter and secretary in the local UNIA branch in Omaha that her husband/Malcolm was selected by Garvey to lead.

We realize that sound family structures are the foundation of any person with real power. In honoring Malcolm Little (Malcolm X) we are honoring his father – Earl Little and the family unit that helped to provide the environment that he needed to bring the Malcolm X we would come to know to fruition. The family struggled after Mr. Little’s untimely death, but the seeds had already been planted (in not just Malcolm but in the majority of his siblings). Part of their home life involved reading newspapers from across the globe and having direct access to the materials included in the “Black World”, the official newspaper/magazine of the UNIA. For the Littles (including young Malcolm), they were exposed to keen insights on local and international affairs and strategies on how to not fall into the traps of organized religions. Louise Little’s education in Grenada greatly supplemented Earl Little’s experience and education as a Black man/leader in the United States. The reason Malcolm was shocked during the well known encounter with his grade school teacher (she told him that Blacks did not have the intellect to be lawyers) was because it went against everything that his parents had already instilled in him.

The murder of Earl Little devastated the family. Louise attempted to hold it all together amidst insurance scams in order to pay out less money to the Littles (claiming that Earl committed suicide), and a social worker determined to support the insurance scheme by suggesting that Louise had lost her mind. Eventually, a psychologist initially claiming that Louise was not mentally ill, changed her diagnosis amid pressure from the insurance agency, and Louise was committed to the psychological ward – not leaving until 1963. They took the Littles’ land (including the house) and scattered the children to foster homes across the state. One cannot forget that Jim Crow happened in the Midwest as well.

At that point, dealing with the assassination of his father, and his mother being committed to the psychological ward – on the word of a social worker that operated under the assumption that Earl Little assassinated himself – Malcolm, until his time in prison, wrestled with the ideas that The Little House injected into him and the ideas that the external society attempted to impregnate him with. While in prison he was encouraged by his brother Wilbert to follow the pattern that their mother had given them – that being to educate himself while inside. He urged Malcolm, as his mother urged them, to read and comprehend that which he was reading. Malcolm’s obsession with learning every word in the dictionary, how it was used, how it was intended to be used, and its antonyms, synonyms, and hidden meanings, could be attributed to the exercises he and his siblings did in The Little House. Throughout his life he continued to rely on his brothers and sisters for guidance and support. His father’s first child, Ella Collins, took Malcolm into her home in Massachusetts and stood in for him as an additional powerful image of a Black woman. His brothers were those solely responsible for first introducing him and bringing him in to the Nation of Islam.

Malcolm X did not attend school beyond the eight grade, but he was a lifelong learner. While not in the classroom, in the streets he learned men, not by choice, but by circumstances and necessity. When he was incarcerated he devoted his time to reading. I mentioned earlier his careful reading of the dictionary and the lessons he gleamed from that exercise, but we also know from his autobiography that his reading list was wide and varied. He was very interested in learning not only himself but the environment that he lived in. He read books on everything from Black history and European philosophy, to explanations of civilization and genetics. Some texts he read included DuBois’s Souls of Black Folk, Muhammad’s Message to the Blackman in America, Durant’s Story of Civilization, Mendel’s Findings in Genetics, Well’s The Outline of History, Roger’s Sex and Race, Woodson’s Negro History, and basic writings by Nietzsche and Kant. This continued as he became a father, taking his family on weekly trips to local museums. His prowess as a speaker came from a confidence in what he was saying. We understand now as Malcolm did then, that knowledge was essential before speaking on a topic – and that understanding was a requirement before sharing what we knew with people outside of our own household – for we never want to lead others astray. We understood what Malcolm learned in prison – that The Most High’s way, when done as originally stated, was not a hustle, and that we would have to account for every word we spoke.

Much can be said about Malcolm X. But much more can be said about the house that he came from. His great ability to organize the mosques of the Nation of Islam and recreate the Final Call newspaper of the NOI (which he changed from Muhammad Speaks) can be traced back to the knack of his father, forming UNIA branches in any place they moved to, and organizing Marcus Garvey’s Black World newspaper magazine. His relationship with the Nation Of Islam helped to remind him of that which The House of Little initially planted in him – and the relationship between Malcolm and Elijah Muhammad (who was also a Garveyite) was a continuance of things from the past. We can go on for days describing the fruit of the seeds planted by Earl Little, but for the sake of time we’ll stop here and say in closing that one of the most important ways we Israelites remember Malcolm X’ is by remembering that he was a branch of a tree. We learn from his experiences by looking into what it was that shaped him into who he was. We honor his legacy as well as those that he came from. And at the end of the day we should always take the occasion to honor The Most High for using Malcolm’s life to show us what men are capable of when they receive good guidance as youth, and become disciplined men with the unwavering desire to do what is right.

Peace be to you. Peace be to your house. And peace be unto all that is yours! Shalom Shalom!

Bn Shmû ÉL is a loyal son, a committed father, and the founder of HaDBR Media, Chief Editor at Bn Shmû ÉL Publishing House, and author of The Land Of Milk and Honey: The Heart Of The World. https://www.bn-shmu-el.com/shop .