The first chapter provides basic information about the Little family. Malcolm's mother was born in Grenada, in the British West Indies, and is twenty-eight when Malcolm is born on May 19, 1925. She already has three children by Malcolm's father: Wilfred, Hilda, and Philbert. In Michigan, Louise and Earl will have four more children—Reginald, Yvonne, Wesley, and Robert—making Malcolm the fourth of eight children. Malcolm's mother is light-skinned, the daughter of a white man she has never met. She is capable of passing as white. Louise Little can read and has strong religious beliefs, particularly about diet. She is stricter with Malcolm than she is with her other children. Malcolm's father, Earl Little, is more lenient with him. Malcolm's father has three children from a previous marriage who live in Boston. Their names are El

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.

la, 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.

At school, Malcolm becomes a model student, and, as one of the few black students,

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