Farrakhan, Khadijah
1935-2026 · Contribution: 1955-2026
Served for more than four decades as the “First Lady of the Nation of Islam,” working alongside her husband, Minister Louis Farrakhan, to rebuild the organization after 1977, serving as its first National Secretary, and founding Newel Apparel to design the official uniforms worn by the Nation of Islam's women's auxiliary
Portraits are AI-generated interpretations, not photographs.
Impact on the world
Born Betsy Ross in Boston, she married her childhood sweetheart, then known as Louis Eugene Walcott, in 1953, and converted to the Nation of Islam alongside him in 1955 following his introduction to the movement through his friend Malcolm X. When Louis Farrakhan broke away in 1977 to rebuild the Nation of Islam around Elijah Muhammad's original teachings after the organization's leadership had moved toward mainstream Sunni Islam, Khadijah helped edit and account for the finances of The Final Call, the newspaper first published from the basement of the couple's Chicago home in 1979, and Farrakhan later credited her as the organization's first National Secretary who “accounted for every penny.” She founded Newel Apparel, a clothing design venture that manufactured official uniforms for Muslim women in the organization, including the M.G.T. Vanguard class, and represented the Nation of Islam in official delegations abroad. In October 1997, two years after her husband organized the Million Man March in Washington, D.C., Khadijah addressed the Million Woman March in Philadelphia, telling the assembled crowd, “A nation can rise no higher than its women,” while urging that the movement not lose sight of the need for men, women, and children to rise together as families.
Life & background
Born Betsy Ross on November 26, 1935, in Boston, Massachusetts, she married Louis Eugene Walcott, later known as Louis Farrakhan, on September 12, 1953, and the couple had nine children together. Known within the organization as “Mother Khadijah,” she lived with her husband in Chicago's Kenwood neighborhood near Mosque Maryam for decades and died on June 27, 2026, at age 90, after 72 years of marriage.
Sources
- ABC News; Chicago Crusader; Middle East Eye
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