Born: September 3, 1889 — Georgia
Death: May 12, 1975 — Markham, Illinois (age 85)
Temple: Temple No. 1 — Chicago, Illinois
- Guardian and “Mama” to Sister Diane O’Neal Bey and Sister Patricia Newton El — two of the longest-serving officers in the MSTA’s recorded history
Because of Sis. Pearl Leftwich El, millions today can learn and return to the ancient ways of their forefathers — in part because of the leaders she raised inside an ordinary household on the outskirts of Chicago…
Georgia-Born, Chicago-Found
Sister Pearl Leftwich El was born in Georgia — three decades before Noble Drew Ali would incorporate the Moorish Science Temple of America…
She did not find the teaching through a school, a book or a formal introduction.
She found it through a cafeteria she owned on the west side of Chicago.
Every Sunday afternoon, men and women came in wearing fezes and turbans.
She noticed.
She asked.
They told her there had been a Prophet — Noble Drew Ali — who had come and taught their people who they truly were: Moorish Americans, not the slave names “Negro,” “Black” and “Colored”.
Her response was immediate and unguarded:
“You mean there was a prophet and I didn’t know about it?”
She told them she wanted to come to a meeting. That week she went.
She joined on the spot…
The El That Would Not Move
A funny story about Sis. Leftwich El —
When she came home and told her husband she had joined the Moorish Science Temple of America and her name was now Sister P. Leftwich El, he refused — “the El will not go on the end of my name,” he told her.
She told him plainly:
“That’s fine, I’ll just change my name to Sister Pearl El — The El is going to go where I go.“
He immediately relented.
A House of Love
She raised four children under her roof in the Chicago suburbs, including Sister Diane O’Neal Bey and Sister Patricia Newton El — the two women who would go on to serve as senior officers of Temple No. 1 for over seventy years.
She called it a home. It was a legacy in progress.
The Moorish American prayer was spoken every morning before anyone left for school.
No exceptions. No shortcuts.
Every evening, the children gathered and read from the Holy Koran of the Moorish Science Temple of America — an instruction or two, sometimes a full chapter, depending on what Sister Pearl Leftwich El required that night.
Each child read aloud to her, one by one.
The word “hate” did not exist in that house — not as a rule posted somewhere, but as an atmosphere she enforced by example.
Love was in this house.
Noble Drew Ali’s words were not studied in that home. They were embodied.
Sis. P. Newton El explains — she would walk through the house thanking the Father God and the Prophet aloud.
The children, small and confused, would ask who she was talking to.
She answered them plainly.
That was how she taught — not by instruction but by demonstration, day after day, until it was the only life they knew.
When asked years later why they had never abandoned the faith through seven decades of service, both sisters said the same thing without hesitation: Sister Pearl Leftwich El.
A Life Carried Forward
Sister Pearl Leftwich El passed away on May 12, 1975, in Markham, Illinois, at the age of 85. She was buried two days later at Burr Oak Cemetery in Worth, Illinois.
She did not hold a grand title. She did not leave behind published writings.
What she left behind was an impact no institution built and no institution could break.
Her belief in Noble Drew Ali’s teaching — pressed into the daily life of every child under her roof — set a chain in motion that has never stopped:
→ Two senior officers, seventy years of unbroken service
→ The authorized Temple No. 1 stayed alive
→ Noble Drew Ali’s teaching stayed intact
→ Millions today can still walk through a door their ancestors were never shown
→ And discover the ancient Moorish identity that slavery spent centuries trying to erase
Honors to Sis. Leftwitch El — who secured the ancient Moorish lineage for generations to come inside an ordinary home on the outskirts of Chicago — one morning prayer at a time…