Malcolm X Shabazz/Wilfred Little

Malcolm Little (1925-1965) arrived at this house on August 8, 1952. He joined the Nation of Islam (NOI) soon after, taking the name Malcolm X. He became the assistant minister at Detroit’s Temple No. 1 in mid-1953. He was later sent to the East Coast to aid in recruiting and founding temples. In 1958 he proposed to Betty Dean Sanders from a Detroit phone booth. They wed a few days later in Lansing. In December 1963 Malcolm gave his “Message to the Grass Roots” speech at King Solomon Baptist Church in Detroit. He left NOI in March 1964 and started two new organizations. In April 1964 he performed the Hajj, the holy pilgrimage to Mecca, and became known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz. At Ford Auditorium on February 14, 1965, he exclaimed, “I’m from Detroit. I used to live out here in Inkster.” He was assassinated a week later. Wilfred Little Wilfred Little (1920-1998) was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was the oldest of seven children. In 1952 he and his second wife, Ruth, became the first family to own this house. They lived here with Wilfred’s children until 1962. Malcolm Little, one of Wilfred’s brothers, lived with them between 1952 and 1953. Wilfred joined the Nation of Islam (NOI) in 1947. He later became an official at NOI’s Temple No. 1 in Detroit. Wilfred provided a home and job to Malcolm when he was paroled from a Massachusetts prison in 1952. Later that year, Wilfred facilitated a meeting in Chicago between Elijah Muhammed, the leader of NOI, and Malcolm. Wilfred, who had helped introduce NOI teachings to Malcolm, later left the organization. Around 1970 Wilfred began a new career first with Michigan Bell and later with Focus Hope, a Detroit-based nonprofit.