Shelton Jackson Lee was born in Atlanta Georgia on March 20th, 1957. He was born into an area in the middle of racial tension that would only grow stronger into the 60s. The family moved to Brooklyn, NY and that is where Spike grew up. From the beginning of his life his mother Jacquelyn, an educator, encouraged her children to study, understand and be proud of their African American heritage. She also nicknamed him "Spike" at an early age because of the toughness that he showed.

Spike Lee’s father Bill Lee is an accomplished jazz bass player. He has composed music and during Spike’s early years there was always music in the home. Spike and his siblings were challenged in their early years to be creative and critical thinkers by both their mother and father. In later years Bill Lee said about his children, “I wanted them to do what they wanted with their lives. It didn’t have to be music.” Life was not always pleasant in the Lee household. At one time Spike almost died from injuries he received from a beating that his father gave him. In later years Bill wrote the soundtracks for some of Spikes movies.

At an early age Spike was given the choice to attend a chiefly white private school where his mother taught. Instead Spike chose to attend a public school where the majority of his friends were black. He attended and graduated from John Dewey High School. For college Spike chose to go to the same college that his father and grandfather attended, Morehouse. He majored in Mass Communication.