Guest Commissioners Matthew Little Civil rights advocate Matthew Little has been one of Minnesota's most prominent black leaders. He was born on August 21, 1921 in Washington, North Carolina. As a youth he promised his parents he would become a doctor. Shortly after graduating from North Carolina A&T State University in 1943, Little was drafted. After World War II, Little, an excellent student, could not get into medical school. Severely depressed and ashamed, he wanted to get to the northernmost, coldest place he could find. He flipped a coin at the bus station and headed for Minneapolis instead of Denver, and for a year his family searched desperately for him. Leaving the formal version of segregation in the South behind him, Little settled in Minneapolis where he worked as a waiter in a hotel and at the local post office. When he sought a position as a firefighter, racial discrimination prevented his hiring and he learned a lesson about the north. Eventually, Little started his own successful landscaping business. Little has been active in civil right efforts for more than fifty years. As president of the Minnesota chapter of the NAACP, Little organized busloads of Minnesota activist for the historic 1963 March On Washington. He has rallied for continued support of affirmative action and desegregation of the Minnesota Public Schools. He recently supported the NAACP lawsuit against the government of Minnesota, which charged the public school system with failing to provide an equal education to all children. Little supports busing as the best solution to the problem of school inequality, which has placed him at odds with some local black politicians as well as white ones. Little has cultivated a strong relationship and influence with the African American community and the business community and was instrumental in persuading the Minnesota Vikings management to hire Dennis Green as their first black head coach. He is still chairman of the Minnesota NAACP. In recognition of his accomplishments and contributions to his community, Little has received numerous awards. He awarded an honorary doctor of laws degree from the University of Minnesota Law School in May 2002. Little and his wife, Lucille, live in St. Paul. Back to main page   Southern Regional Hearing Montgomery, Alabama March 11, 2005 Southwest Regional Hearing Phoenix, AZ April 7, 2005 Northeast Regional Hearing New York, New York June 14, 2005 Midwest Regional Hearing Minneapolis, Minnesota July 22, 2005 South Georgia Hearing Americus, Georgia August 2, 2005 Florida Hearing Orlando, Florida 80th National Convention of the National Bar Association August 4, 2005 South Dakota Hearing Rapid City, South Dakota September 9, 2005 Western Regional Hearing Los Angeles, California September 27, 2005 Mid-Atlantic Regional Hearing Washington, DC October 14, 2005 Mississippi Hearing Jackson, Mississippi October 29, 2005