From there, he quickly falls into the hustler culture, embracing a life of drugs and alcohol and the popular style of zoot suits and conks.Įlla attempts to extract Malcolm from this life by getting him a job at a respectable soda fountain clerk, but this leads to his greatest symbolic fall. Malcolm is enamored with the “hustlers” in the town area, and he begins working a small hustle as a shoe shine boy, thanks to his new friend Shorty. Those living on the “hill” are those working in the white businesses downtown as janitors and couriers, while those living in “town” are poor and involved in criminal economic activities, such as gambling and prostitution. Upon arriving in Boston, Malcolm becomes immediately aware of the class hierarchy among African Americans living in Roxbury. And after having spent one summer in Boston with his half-sister Ella and soaking in its vibrant black culture (at least, compared to Mason, Michigan), he moves in with her as soon as he finishes the 8th grade. For the first time, Malcolm can see and feel the racial double standard. Rather, “as a Negro,” he should set his sights more reasonably, perhaps to becoming a carpenter. Ostrowski, Malcolm’s 8th grade teacher, who advises him to not aim for being a lawyer. Nothing further illustrates this than Mr. And yet, the adulation is only ever superficial, hiding a deeper racist mentality. He is a successful athlete, a good student, and popular he’s even elected class president. There, he is the only “Negro” in his class, making him more of a star than a target for discrimination. Malcolm, however, has been acting out, and is soon expelled from school and sent to a youth detention center in nearby Mason. The kids are scattered among local families and mostly settle in. Meanwhile, state officials hound Louise incessantly about not being a good mother to her kids and being “crazy,” before finally she does indeed have a mental breakdown. As Earl was the family’s main bread winner, and the Great Depression is in full swing, the family quickly falls into poverty. Malcolm’s father, Earl Little, has an outspoken style of preaching, and this along with his connection to Marcus Garvey attracts the anger of the local Black Legion (a splinter group of the Ku Klux Klan)-and one morning he is found dead. After Malcolm is born, the family moves to Michigan but racist hatred continues to surround them. The autobiography begins with Malcolm describing his mother Louise, pregnant with him, as she confronts an angry mob of Klansmen.
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