Khadijah Farrakhan
Khadijah Farrakhan | |
|---|---|
| Born | Betsy Ross |
| Occupation | Political activist |
| Spouse | Louis Farrakhan (1953-present) |
Khadijah Farrakhan, or Mother Khadijah, birth name Betsy Ross, is the wife of Louis Farrakhan, the Supreme Leader of the Nation of Islam. She is also known as the First Lady of the Nation of Islam.[1][2][3][4]
Biography
Betsy Ross converted to Islam with her husband Louis Farrakhan, then Louis Eugene Walcott, in 1955, when they had been married for only two years.[5] As Supreme Minister, Farrakhan enrolled in the Fruit of Islam while his wife also enrolled in the Muslim Girls Training (MGT) and General Civilization Class (GCC) under the direction of Sister Captain Anna Lois Muhammad in New York City. The Muslim sisters in Mother Khadijah’s class would include many important figures such as Dr. Betty Shabazz, the late wife of Malcolm X. Mother Khadijah, as she is often called, was an eager student and quickly rose to the top of her class. She was trained by Elijah Muhammad. Minister Farrakhan was subsequently promoted to be the minister of Boston's Temple No. 11. Since both husband and wife had Boston backgrounds, they were right at home with the new posting and worked tirelessly, eventually building the New England area into one of the Nation of Islam’s key developments between 1956 and 1965. In 1965, after Minister Farrakhan was promoted to the National Representative of the Hon. Elijah Muhammad and relocated to Mosque No. 7 in New York City, this husband and wife team went to work immediately to improve the quality of life for New Yorkers from Harlem to New Rochelle.
By 1975, Mother Khadijah and her family had relocated to Chicago. After Minister Farrakhan decided to rebuild the Nation of Islam under the teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad in 1977, she became the “new” Nation’s first treasurer and secretary when the couple opened their Chicago home to host “study group” meetings. She shared her skills in office systems and communications, particularly in developing the secretarial department that helped launch many of the Nation of Islam’s programs and thrusts that have become popular in mosques across the globe. As Minister Farrakhan’s popularity grew, her responsibilities expanded to fund-raising, registration of new members, the distribution of free food to homeless families, humanitarian aid for the flood victims in the south, heading Nation of Islam delegations overseas at the opening of mosques, schools, historic foreign policy missions in Africa, addressing the Million Woman March in 1997,[6][7] receiving and hosting visiting First Ladies of African countries, and directly helping one of the century’s most important figures in Nation of Islam, her husband, Minister Louis Farrakhan. At a Saviour’s Day Believer’s meeting, the Minister described her as “his best friend.”