Betty Before X by Ilyasah Shabazz

When Betty Sanders is two, her aunt takes her away from her mother because she feels that Betty is being neglected.  When Betty is six her beloved auntie dies, and she goes to live with her biological mother again.  Her new home is in Detroit in the 1940's and her local church is a center for civil rights activities.  Betty finds herself drawn to the women of the House Wife's League, a women's civil rights group, so when her relationship with her birth mother falls apart again, she goes to live with one of the leaders of the League.

This is a fascinating look at the earliest beginnings of the civil rights movement, and the social status of inner city blacks in the 1940's.  It is written by the daughter of Malcolm X about her mother, Betty, as a way to show how Betty became the resilient and influential leader that she was. Betty X was an interesting historical character and her life was complicated and full of cruel ironies that this book doesn't address.  Still the book is a good look at the early part of her life, and deserves the multiple starred reviews it has already received. (248 p. 2018)  (p.s. I would recommend reading this one instead of listening to it.  The reader of the audio book is not the best I have heard.)