Malcolm Little, also known as Malcom X, was born on May 19, 1925. His father, Earl Little, was a outspoken Baptist minister and avid supporter of Black Nationalist leaded Marcus Garvey. Earl's civil rights activism promoted death threats from the white supremacist organization Black Legion. Little's efforts to elude the Legion, in 1929, their Lansing, Michigan home was burned to the ground. Years later, Earl's body was found lying across the town's trolley tracks. Police ruled both incidents as accidents regardless that the Little's family were certain that members of the Black Legion were highly responsible. Earl's wife, Louise Norton Little, suffered emotional breakdown several years after her husband's death and was committed to a mental institute. Malcolm and all his siblings were split up among various foster homes and orphanages.
