Khadijah Farrakhan (born Betsy Ross) was a prominent political activist and the First Lady of the Nation of Islam (NOI). She was the wife of NOI leader Louis Farrakhan.

She was born on November 26, 1935, as Betsy Ross. She married Louis Farrakhan (then Louis Eugene Walcott) on September 12, 1953, after being childhood sweethearts. She grew up in the Roxbury neighborhood, which was the heart of Boston’s Black American and West Indian community during that era. She and her family belonged to St. Cyprian’s Episcopal Church, an important spiritual and social pillar for West Indian and Black American families in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston.

St. Cyprian’s Episcopal Church was the first church built in Roxbury, Boston, by Black people. It served as a vital spiritual, cultural, and political anchor for the neighborhood’s Black American and West Indian residents throughout the 20th century. Her future husband, Louis Farrakhan, and his family were also highly active members of the exact same congregation. He sang in the church choir and was heavily involved in church youth activities alongside her.

The couple remained in the Episcopal faith through their childhood, high school years, and the first two years of their marriage. They both officially left the church and converted to Islam in 1955 after attending a lecture by NOI leader Elijah Muhammad.

She took the name Khadijah. The couple raised nine children together.

When Minister Louis Farrakhan set out to rebuild the Nation of Islam in 1977, Khadijah served as his primary helper.The Final Call: In the early days of rebuilding the movement, she assisted with managing and producing the organization’s official newspaper, The Final Call, directly out of the basement of their Chicago home.

She rose to prominent public recognition and addressed the historic Million Woman March in Philadelphia in 1997, where she advocated for the spiritual and structural unity of the Black family. Leveraging sewing skills she developed as a child, she founded Newell Apparel and designed the official military-style uniforms (the Vanguard uniforms) worn by the women of the Nation of Islam.

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