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“Malcolm Little was born on May 19, 1925, in Omaha, Nebraska, to Earl and Louise Little (née Louisa Norton).

“Earl Little was dark-skinned and born in Georgia.[19] He had three children from his first marriage— Ella, Mary, and Earl Jr.— and seven with his second wife, Louise, Malcolm coming fourth—Wilfred, Hilda, Philbert, Malcolm, Reginald, Yvonne, and Wesley.

“Louise Little had been born in Grenada.

“Because HER father was Scottish, she was so light-skinned that she could have passed for white.

“Malcolm inherited his light complexion from his mother and maternal grandfather.

“Initially he felt his light skin was a status symbol, but he later said he “hated every drop of that white rapist’s blood that is in me.”

“Malcolm X later remembered feeling that his father favored him because he was the lightest-skinned child in the family; however, he thought his mother treated him harshly for the same reason.[23] One of Malcolm’s nicknames, “Red”, derived from the tinge of his hair.

“According to one biographer, at birth he had “ash-blonde hair ... tinged with cinnamon”, and at age four, “reddish-blonde hair”.[24] His hair darkened as he aged, yet he also resembled his paternal grandmother, whose hair “turned reddish in the summer sun.” The issue of skin color and skin tone took on very significant implications later in Malcolm’s life.”