Summary

In a brief prologue, it is 1945 in Harlem, and Malcolm, a.k.a “Detroit Red” (1) is running from a numbers runner called West Indian Archie, who he believes wants to kill him. He hides in his friend Sammy's apartment and longs for simpler times, back home in Michigan.

Chapter 1 begins in Lansing, Michigan, 1940. A 15-year-old Malcolm is preparing to board a bus that will take him to live with his half-sister Ella in Boston. His seven siblings, Yvonne, Wesley, Robert, Philbert, Reginald, Wilfred, and Hilda come to see him off. They have been living in separate foster homes. Malcolm boards the bus, and is told by the driver to sit in the back. The novel flashes back to 1937, and Malcolm recalls the family living in poverty. They have little to eat except stale bread and dandelion soup. Still, Malcolm's mother Louise makes...