Khadijah Farrakhan, the matriarch revered across the Nation of Islam as Mother Khadijah and honored for more than seven decades as its First Lady, died on June 27, 2026. She was 90 years old.

She was born Betsy Ross on November 26, 1935, and came of age in mid-century America. At 17 she married a young calypso singer and violinist named Louis Eugene Walcott in Boston on September 12, 1953. Two years later, in 1955, the couple embraced Islam together and joined the Nation of Islam, a decision that would shape the rest of their lives. Her husband went on to become Minister Louis Farrakhan, one of the most widely recognized religious leaders in the country, and for 72 years she remained beside him as wife, confidante, and the steady center of a large family, according to NBC Chicago.

Together they raised nine children, and family, faith, and service formed the heart of her life. The couple made their home at Mosque Maryam on the south side of Chicago, the spiritual headquarters of the Nation of Islam, where Mother Khadijah was a constant and beloved presence. Those who knew the household describe a mother whose quiet strength anchored a movement often led from the public stage by her husband, as WRAL News reported.

Though she rarely sought attention for herself, Mother Khadijah carried her own clear voice. In 1997 she addressed the Million Woman March in Philadelphia, a historic gathering of Black women, where she offered words that distilled her convictions about womanhood and community: "A nation can rise no higher than its women. We focus on women but cannot lose sight that we must rise as a family: men, women and children." Her message, recalled by CBS News, reflected a life devoted to the dignity of Black women and the strength of the family.

Within her community she was held in deep affection. Mosque Maryam remembered her as a devoted follower with a precious soul and a sweet heart, and the Rainbow PUSH Coalition praised her unwavering support and her devotion to faith, family, and service. In announcing her passing, the Nation of Islam's Shura Executive Council described her as the beloved wife of 72 years who had returned to Allah. Her later years carried private sorrows familiar to any long life, including the loss of two of her sons, Louis Farrakhan Jr. in 2018 and Joshua Farrakhan in 2023.

Khadijah Farrakhan will be remembered less for any single appearance than for the long, steady arc of a life given to family and faith. As a wife of more than seventy years, the mother of nine, and the matriarch whom an entire community called Mother, she embodied the quiet endurance that holds families and movements together across generations. Her influence was measured not in headlines but in the children she raised, the marriage she sustained, and the people who loved her. She is survived by her husband, Louis Farrakhan, and a large extended family who carry forward the devotion she so faithfully modeled.