Malcolm in Roxbury

Ella Little Johnson, Malcolm X’s older half-sister from Georgia, purchased this house at 72 Dale Street, in Boston’s Roxbury neighborhood, where she moved in 1941 as part of the Great Migration. In that year, the formidable Ella took Malcolm under her wing and her home became Malcolm’s primary residence until 1944. Malcolm was first exposed to Islam in Roxbury, where, following his prison conversion, he would establish a temple of the Nation of Islam in 1953. Ella married Kenneth Collins in 1942—thereafter she was Ella Little-Collins. The house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.