CHICAGO — Khadijah Farrakhan, the wife of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, died on Saturday at the age of 90 in Chicago. The Nation of Islam announced her death.

The Shura Executive Council issued a statement regarding her passing, identifying her as the wife of Louis Farrakhan for 72 years and referring to her as the "first lady of the Nation of Islam." Funeral service details are pending an announcement.

Born Betsy Ross, she married Louis Walcott in Boston on September 12, 1953. She converted to Islam in 1955, and she and Louis Farrakhan subsequently changed their names around the same year. The couple had nine children. Two of their sons, Louis Farrakhan Jr. and Joshua Farrakhan, died in 2018 and 2023, respectively.

In 1997, Khadijah Farrakhan spoke at the Million Woman March in Philadelphia. During her address, she told the crowd, "A nation can rise no higher than its women." She also stated, "We focus on women but cannot lose sight that we must rise as a family -- men, women and children."

Louis Farrakhan joined the Nation of Islam in 1955 and became the leader of the organization shortly after Malcolm X's assassination in 1965. He organized the Million Man March in Washington in 1995. Khadijah Farrakhan lived at Mosque Maryam, located on the south side of Chicago, which serves as the home base of the Nation of Islam.

R&B artist ZaRio Son Rise posted a tribute to Khadijah Farrakhan on Facebook. Son Rise described her as "a true queen, a righteous woman, and one of the greatest examples of dignity, faith, loyalty, and grace our generation has ever witnessed."