Malcolm His father, Earl Little, was a Baptist preacher who supported Marcus Garvey's Back to Africa movement. When Malcolm was four years old, the family moved to Lansing, Michigan, where Earl attempted to open a store while continuing his preaching. But a group of white supremacists calling themselves the Black Legion (a subbranch of the Ku Klux Klan) became angry with him. Two years later, Earl Little was found dead on the city tracks after a streetcar hit him. Despite the police report that Earl's death was an accident, Malcolm firmly believed that his father had been killed by the Black Legion who had placed his father's body on the tracks to make it look like an accident. After Earl's death, Malcolm's mother, Louise Little, attempted to support her eight children alone. Malcolm began stealing food and candy from neighborhood stores to support his brothers and sisters. After being caught one too many times, a local court ruled that Louise was unable to control Malcolm and removed him from her care and placed him in the home of a friendly white couple who knew Louise. Two years later, Louise, due to the severe stress of raising her children, suffered a nervous breakdown and was admitted to the state psychiatric hospital where she remained for the remaining 26 years of her life. After finishing eighth grade, Malcolm dropped out of school and went to Boston where his older sister, Ella, lived. After a few years, Malcolm moved to New York City where, to support himself, he became a numbers runner, a drug dealer, and even a pimp. He wore zoot suits and dyed his hair red, earning the nickname "Detroit Red." He moved again to Boston where he organized a robbery ring that was discovered by police in 1946 and was sentenced to eight to ten years in prison. Malcolm has used his time behind bars to study in the prison library where he learns the basics of grammar and expands his vocabulary. It was here that some inmates introduced Malcolm to a new religion and movement, The Nation of Islam. Malcolm's younger brother Reginald, already a member, came to see him and talked to him about Islam and Allah. Much of what Reginald said confused Malcolm, but two phrases took root in his head: "the white man is the devil" and "the black man is the one who has been brainwashed"..