Day 27: Louise Little

Day 27: Louise Little, Born Louise Langdon Norton 1897- 1991 was born on the island of Grenada and raised by her grandparents. This island has a long and strong history of resistance. In 1650, the French sought to colonize the Carib Island. At least 40 leapt to their death rather than be colonized and live under French rule and European domination. The hill where this occurred is known as Leapers Hill. Additionally, in 1795, the British came to the island to colonize and found more than 14,000 enslaved Africans joining ranks with freed slaves, dragging British soldiers into the streets and exciting them and burning houses. The British would need to get 16 regiments to quell the rebellion that went on for a year. “ To this day, one of the defining features of Grenadians is their resistance, especially to white supremacy”.

Louise’s grandparents, Juniper and Mary Langdon, where liberated Africans and had 6 children, whom they brought up as “Liberated Africans”. They followed the teachings of Marcus Garvey. One of their daughters, Edith, gave birth to a girl in 1897named Louise. The color of this child was unlike many on the island as she appeared nearly white. It is believed that Edith was raped by a White man. That she could pass for white, Louise hated this about herself.

Louise’s story is difficult to write about because of the unrelenting racism she endured. The author of the book: The Three Mothers. How the Mothers of Martin Luther King Jr, Malcom X, and James Baldwin shaped a Nation, by Ana Malaika Tubbs, writes that “ As history tells us, all three of their sons did indeed make aa difference in this world, but they did so at a cost. In all three cases, these mothers’ worse fears became reality: each woman was alive to bury her son. It is an absolute injustice that far too many Black mothers today can say the same thing”. It is this passage that takes me back to a trip across the south to join the military. My mother was just frantic about my driving to the south. I could not understand why at the time, but as I got older, it become clear: the murder of Black men was a fear that Black mothers simply had to live with back then and continues to live with today.

Louise would always claim her African descent, even if it meant danger would come to her. In 1901, Juniper Langdon died, leaving Mary to raise 6 children and one grandchild all on her own. The Langdons believed in Garveyism and the self – determination of Blacks; This was instilled in Louise. So, when she immigrated to Canada after WWI, she joined and became an important leader in the United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA). She remained passionately committed to Black self-determination and African descended back people, and she became an important figure in a grassroots organization that claimed over 6 million followers in United States, Canada, Caribbean, Central American, Africa and Europe. She was later an office in the UNIA in Omaha Nebraska.

Now Louise met Earl Little in Montreal Canada through UNIA networking, they would marry in 1919 and move to Philadelphia and then onto Omaha Nebraska for a better life. Earl was a craftsman and a lay preacher and would travel preaching Black self-determination and Garveyism. They would have 6 children and each day, Louise would go over their homework, provide them corrected lessons from school, instilling in her children self-determination and presented them with an accurate history of Black America, had articles for them to read, and instilled in them how important education was.

Louise was no stranger to tragedy and racism. Frequently the Ku Klux Klan (kkk) visited her house while her husband was away, breaking windows and intimidating her and the children. They had a house that was once burned down as a message that they were on the wrong side of town; they believed in home ownership and self -determination. On one occasion, while pregnant with Malcom, the KKK visited looking for her husband, angry about his preaching and informing other Black Americans to not be afraid. They broke windows and set a fire.

Tragedy fell upon Louise when her husband was murdered and found on the railroad tracks of a streetcar. Earl had taken out two life policies because he wanted to protect his family knowing that he would be injured or killed with the activist work he was doing. She was let with 6 children and no income because her husband’s death was ruled suicide.

Conor Freidersdorf wrote: “… that removing a child from their home is the juvenile justice system’s equivalent of the death penalty, the most extreme thing a worker can do. It’s true. There is no higher sanction in family law.” Child Protective Services . Louise would live this death sentence one-by-one as an unreasonable standard was applied to her in the care of her children. When she sought evaluation and help for her expected depression and anxiety at the time of her husband’s death, the psychologist notes that there was nothing wrong with her and no reason she should not be able to care for her children better than she was. Malcom was the first child removed because he had a track record for trouble, and social workers seized on that to prove she was an unfit mother, additionally, the food she received from “welfare” was deemed insufficient for the care and feeding of her children. As each child was taken and placed in foster care, she slipped further and further into a near catatonic state. The last words Malcom remembers his mother uttering was: “ Don’t give that child no pork” as he was taken into foster care. This was part of the teaching of diet and health that she imparted to her children.

A doctor wrote a statement about Louise’s status that led to her commitment to an institution. He wrote: “ I certify that in my opinion said Louise Little is an insane person and her condition is such as to require care and treatment in an institution for care, custody and treatment of such mentally diseased persons…” He went on to state his reasons for his statement:

Mrs. Little given a history of maladjustment over a period of years. Began talking to herself a few years ago following the death of her husband. She has gradually lost interest in family, has had a decided change of personality and has neglected the care of the children to the point of their becoming delinquent. Recently she gave birth to a child. She had had several controversies with various agencies and is extremely suspicious of everyone. She claims people talk about her and point at her when on the street. She claims to have been discriminated against. Diagnosis: The patient is suffering from a paranoid condition, probably dementia praecox.

The doctor’s diagnosis is consistent with the near 200 years of pathologizing Black behavior. He ignored her obvious depression due to the murder of her husband, having her children removed from her home, the loss of a boyfriend she felt wanted to marry her, but disappeared after impregnating her. Possible post-partum depression after she delivered her last child, not to mention the daily grind of racism. She would be committed for 25 years. Now despite capable and able family members to care for her, she remained institutionalized, almost as if she was being punished for her activism, and certainly not for the care she needed. The hospital that she was committed to was overcrowded and visits from her children were refused.

Eventually, Louise was released into the care of a family member, and she reconnected with all of her children. She was amazed and proud of what her children had become and reconnected with Malcom and energized with the work that he was doing. Interestingly, when she left the psychiatric institution, and was reconnected with her family, all her symptoms resolved without medication. In 2020, the CDC declared racism a public health crisis. Here is proof that the effects of racism on the health of Black Americans have been a crisis for more than 200 years.

Louise enjoyed reconnecting with her children, so the sadness that crept into her soul again on February 12, 1965, Malcom X was assassinated. One year after being released from Kalamazoo, Louise lost the child that looked like her more in looks and attitude. This was her little boy.

How does any human endure what Louise Little endured? How could she find inner strength to get through 25 years of hell, disconnected from her children, and having lost her husband, and pull through to be released from hell only to enter into another nightmare most parents hate to even think about: The loss of a child. Louise was brilliant, educated, and strong human being. She believed in Garveyism and raised her children by those principles. She lived long enough to see one of her children introduce many of those principles to the world and he paid the ultimate price. She died 18 years before the first Black man was elected as President.

Louise Little, Alberta King, and Berdis Baldwin lived in a silence trust upon them as Black women. They imparted so much to the world, not only through their direct actions, but also through their children. Each of them lived during a very ugly time in American history, but had the strength, power and focus to never lose sight of their goal to prepare their children for a world that would never be ready for them. They gave the world their hearts, souls, and sons.