[9026 The little, uh lived uh south of Lansing and what I thought was kind of unusual was the fact that Mr. Little had built the house and also uh that they had so much land. Uh, we did build my home and other people did too in Lansing but they didn't have that much acreage and when I used to come out sometimes to visit Hilda why um it was quite a walk 'cause there definitely wasn't any transportation 9072] and uh ... they ... it was a nice little house ... I ... smaller AH 9080 when you think of the size of the family but they seemed to be comfortable.

Only thing I remember is the fact that uh a lot of times we spent time AH 9100 out on the porch and did some things uh ... we used to read books and do a little craft ... make dolls out of ... hollyhocks and that type of thing uh ... so I don't really remember in the house very much but the only thing I remember was that it was nice when I got there but I still had a long walk to get back into Lansing 'cause they lived down south of Lansing.

She had dignity. She had ... [[9221 Mrs. Little was very dignified person and she was very sweet and she was very knowledgeable and she treated us like ... she treated us like grown people ... she treated us ... uh, she didn't talk down to us ... she was ... AH 9249 she was firm but she was not strict ... she was just a ... just a great person. 9262]]

She uh made uh The Bible and what we were studying come alive. We didn't just sit around and memorize Bible verses. We sorta felt like we were actually uh in the situations that maybe some of the disciples were in. We ... we had a feel for it. I enjoyed going to Sunday school class because I'd learn things I didn't know and I'd feel so good about going and she brought that to 0095 us ... she was firm but she was not spect or stuffy. She related to us as people rather than kids take your place and mind your manners or such a thing ... she was ... she was a very lovely teacher and I think that's the reason why I remember her so well is because um ... she was different from a lot of the others that I had through the years because naturally we had to go to Sunday BA 0138 school every day ... every Sunday and so I can remember that as a refreshing period. I

Yes, [[0185 after uh miss ... [Mrs. Little went to the hospital uh, Wilfred and 0193 Hilda tried to keep the family together uh but they were teenagers 'cause they were in high school like I was and uh ... they just couldn't do it. And uh ... so gradually the children were taken away. Now uh the ri-, early after Mrs. Little became sick why uh Butch and Yvonne were brought home by the McGuires and they took them to raise them and a little bit later on then Reggie and Wesley uh were um moved and they moved with another BA 0248 family that lived on our street uh the Williams and [Malcolm ... I never did figure

Well I know uh certainly uh there was...[[0365 welfare was not interested in trying to have any feeling of self-worth. Uh, I don't really know what the Littles went through but I know my Dad had uh had TB when he was thir-, 1936, and went in the sanitarium and the first thing they wanted us to do was get rid of the old card car we had there 'cause we weren't supposed to have a car ... we had a gas stove ... they wanted to take the gas stove out and we were supposed to cook over coal oil. 0407]] And um ... there 0413 wasn't ... they thougt that since I was sixteen that I could help support the family so I needed to get out of school. Uh, and go and get a job and that's when my mother said that uh I had run away from home when it was ... was living with my uncle and aunt. So therefore uh ... it was rather repressive uh there was no help ... I can recall that I had a sewing machine and I made myself a little outfit during the summer and uh ... BA 0466 there was ... the welfare workers ... someone told the worker that I had a new dress. So

Well back then um ... we gotta remember that [[0536 we were poor and of course black people were poorer than anyone else but everyone was poor 'cause it was the Depression ... uh people helped each other ... There was no such thing as someone coming in that they didn't have dinner ... that you didn't feed them because uh ... that's how it BA 0563 was uh ... we had gardens uh ... anyone had

Yes they lived by themselves ....

Wilfred and Hilda walked ... I don't know how many miles it was but it was BA 0658... golly road in ... Lansing and Lansing Central where we went to school was now ... up where is now LCC, Lansing Community College. In fact they've got a building called Old Central and that's where we went. And I know that it was ... a lot a miles 'caused I walked a mile and a half and I was inside Lansing to go to school. And it was very important to them ... uh, I really admired~ 0694 them because after all there they were and they did not have to go to school. They had no one to make them go to school. They were old enough where they didn't have to but they went to school and they went to school every day and like I said, they went to church every Sunday and they had to walk a long mile ... a long distance because the church was BA 0722 almost as far as the school was ...

When ... when my dad uh became ill, he had TB and he went in the san-, was put in a sanitorium, why we tried to get relief and um at that time when the worker came out uh there were certain things that we had to get rid of ... we couldn't have our little old raggedy car. We also couldn't have a regular gas stove like we had; they wanted us to have coal oil. And also uh the fact that I was sixteen, they thought that I 0805 should stop school and uh go to work to support the family. And of course Mother and Daddy come from South Carolina so that we could get a be-, a better education so therefore Mother wasn't about to hear about that ... and so she said that I had moved with my aunt and uncle and for a few weeks I did live with them so that she wasn't telling BA 0841 a lie. Um, the workers probably was helpful

It was just a quiet ...

[[1080 Malcolm was quiet and Malcolm was noisy but Malcolm was always Malcolm. BA 1091 You knew Malcolm was there. Uh ... I ... I didn't find that threatening at all ... I just knew he was there. And I figured that um he ... he was his own man so-to-speak. He didn't see any need to please me or anyone else. That's my feeling. 1120]] However, the last time I saw Malcolm was in New York and I was on a L and I was going one way and he was going another -- Third Avenue L and we saw 1136 each other but we couldn't get together because neither train stopped but he looked like he was very happy to seem me and I certainly was very happy to see him.

The ...[[1174 the Little Family had a dignity -- the fact that those children would BA 1187 be going to school, would be going to church, would be neat ... would be par-, participating just like everyone else when you think of how difficult it was for them to do it but yet they didn't expect any sympathies nor did they act like they should get it. They were uh certainly uh probably had had a rough time but you'd never know it. 1224]] That's the thing I remember most ... 1229 especially about Hilda and Wilfred. The other children were different because they lived with families but they looked ... they took care of themselves and uh ... I certainly was proud to call them my friends.

[[1275 I was very proud that there we had Malcolm who'd come from Lansing, Michigan BA 1284 -- who knows where Lansing is you know and the fact that uh ... he was making inrow-, roads ...[I didn't understand some of his thinking as far as uh ... the white man's a devil and ... and all that but what he thought about ... the things that he wanted to accomplish ... how ... what he saw was a need ... he was telling the truth. And I ... and I ... I appreciated that] ... and especially uh looking back at Lansing since my husband and I ... he was in the Military and we'd travel all over the world and I 1341 think that he had a pretty good view of what life was really like and I could understand where he was coming from even though I didn't necessarily understand all his actions because' I was kinda surprise at this X myself when I first heard it and said a Little and it took me a while to realize that was our Little, out Malcolm Little that was now Malcolm X but uh ... I think that he brought BA 1377 a certain fame to Lansing which I enjoyed and

Um, the ... most of my uh ... mixing with the Littles was with Hilda and Wilfred because we were closer to the same age and I never was aware of them having any problems because they were always cheerful studious, interested in different things and if they did have any worries, I ... I was not aware of them.

Well uh ... the Little family was a whole because I not only knew Wilfred