The Boston Legacy of Ella Little Collins and Malcolm X

Black in Boston and Beyond

In this episode, Dr. Hettie V. Williams is in conversation with Arjun Collins about the life and legacy of Ella Little Collins and Malcolm X. Williams is the incoming director of the Trotter Institute for the Study of Black Culture at the University of Massachusetts Boston and Collins is the great nephew of Malcolm X and grandson of Ella Little Collins who was a long-time resident of Boston from the mid-1940s until her death in 1996. Ella Collins (born to Earl Little and Daisy Little in 1914 and the half-sister of Malcolm) became Malcolm’s legal guardian after his mother died when he was about 8 years old. Collins then had a major influence on Malcolm’s life and legacy by helping to raise him until age 21 and remaining actively engaged in supporting him throughout his life. It was she who first introduced him to Islam and took over the Organization of African Unity after he died. It was she who buried him when he died. Ella Little Collins was an activist in her own right in Boston where she was a community organizer and education advocate. Her children and grandchildren including Arjun Collins have carried on the legacy of social justice agitation down to the present. Arjun Collins here explains—at times in evocative terms—the legacy of his grandmother, uncle, and family. This is the uncut raw original edition of our interview. For more information about Arjun click here: Arjun Collins and look for his new book about the environmental and naturalist thought of his great uncle Malcolm X soon.

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