Matthew Little, one of Minnesota's most influential leaders in the civil rights movement, died Sunday.
Little, 92, led the state's 1963 March on Washington delegation and campaigns to root out inequities in employment, public housing and education. A forceful public speaker who was often self-effacing away from the podium, Little was versed in the minutiae of state and federal regulation. In recent decades, he helped cultivate a crop of younger activists and politicians passionate about social issues.
"He was really instrumental in telling us the stories of what happened to him and how he fought against discrimination," said Minnesota Senator Jeff Hayden, DFL-Minneapolis. "He really set the tone for us."
Little grew up in Washington, N.C. He worked his way through college at North Carolina A&T State University, where he majored in biology.
He went on to serve in an all-black regiment in World War II. He moved to the Twin Cities in 1948, only to find his field was largely closed off to people of color. Eventually, he found work in the post office as he became more involved in the civil rights movement.
He participated in campaigns to integrate the Minneapolis Fire Department, enact Minnesota's first fair housing law and desegregate Minneapolis schools. He had a lengthy tenure at the helm of Minnesota's NAACP chapter and remained involved with the African-American Leadership Council.
Edward McDonald, director at the Council on Black Minnesotans, stopped by the Minneapolis NAACP office shortly after arriving in the Twin Cities in 1992. Little welcomed him. After an hourlong conversation, Little caught McDonald off guard by saying, "I want you to meet me at the state Capitol tomorrow."
McDonald went. He and Little were the only African-Americans in the Capitol hearing room that day. McDonald was struck by Little's confident and articulate testimony about the need to ramp up the work of the state's Human Rights Department -- even as he got some pushback from legislators.
"Mr. Little wasn't a very big man," McDonald said. "But he loomed large. He just seemed larger than life to me."
Little later enlisted McDonald to help with a 1990s legal standoff against the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority over North Minneapolis public housing conditions. McDonald said he was only one of hundreds of ambitious young people Little inspired in that way.
Hayden, the state Senate's deputy majority leader, says he was dubious about running for the House in 2008 after suffering a bruising primary defeat three years earlier. He said Little, a longtime family friend and mentor, pushed him to try again.
"If you were capable and prepared to run and win, he had a way of making you feel you had an obligation to do it," said Hayden.
He said Little remained an active source of advice and support for him and other young black politicians.
Little himself was active in the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, and a slew of the party's leaders spoke of his influence Monday. Party Chair Ken Martin called him "one of Minnesota's most prominent civil rights advocates," on par with Hubert Humphrey, Orville Freeman and Walter Mondale.
U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar called him a civil rights giant, good friend and mentor.
"He was a humble yet powerful voice for equality, and he will be greatly missed," she said.
Tyrone Terrill, the chairman of the African-American Leadership Council, said Little stayed engaged with the organization into his 90s. He was making plans to attend the council's February meeting.
In February, he also was to receive an honorary membership in the MLK Tennis Buffs, a Minneapolis tennis club he helped start. Terrill said Little met his wife, Lucille, at the club.
Little, a dedicated family man, died surrounded by his children and grandchildren, Tyrone said.
A service for Little will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at Shiloh Temple International Ministries in Minneapolis.