are Ella, Earl, and Mary. Malcolm's father was born in Reynolds Georgia, is over six feet tall, and is much darker than his wife. He is committed to spreading the ideas of Marcus Garvey, which is what attracted the interest of the Omaha Ku Klux Klan. In Michigan, Earl Little finds an audience for his preaching and his propagation of Garvey's ideas. As in Omaha, Malcolm's father draws the attention of local whites, who revile him, burn down his house, and, finally, murder him when Malcolm is six. The crime is never investigated, and the insurance company calls it suicide and refuses to deliver on its policy. With the death of Malcolm's father and the onset of the Great Depression, conditions worsen for the family. The Littles are finally forced to accept federal relief, which comes as a blow to their pride. Malcolm's mother becomes a Seventh Day Adventist and even more particular about diet, which seems insane in a time of such hardship. Welfare agents begin to take an interest in the family. Eventually, the state sends Malcolm's mother to a mental hospital in Kalamazoo and divides up the children, sending Malcolm to the Gohannas family, local friends of the Littles. Malcolm alludes to the victory of black boxer Joe Louis over white boxer James J. Braddock in 1937 to introduce the boxing that he and his brother Philbert do as young men. Malcolm soon picks up basketball after two disastrous losses in the ring. While living with the Gohannases, Malcolm is expelled from school for playing a prank on a teacher, and is sent to a detention home in nearby Mason, Michigan. The home is run by the Swerlins, a white couple who quickly take a liking to Malcolm. He helps around the house and is receptive and intelligent, which earns him the title of "good nigger." Malcolm is supposed to go to a reform school, but the Swerlins keep him at the detention home and send him to a normal junior high school. He even wins enough freedom to go out on Saturdays to Lansing's African-American downtown, where he receives his first exposure to nightlife. Still in his early teens, Malcolm already passes as an adult. At school, Malcolm becomes a model student, and, as one of the few black students, is regarded as a novelty, what he calls a "pink poodle." Malcolm's teachers like him, but also make "nigger" jokes. At school dances, Malcolm is especially aware of his race, and feels as if he must stand by the wall, steer clear of white girls, and leave early to avoid trouble. Despite the racial tension, Malcolm feels relatively happy until he enters seventh gra

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