Chapter 2 Summary

Having been relocated to live with the Gohannas family, Malcolm writes that he got into trouble at school and he was ordered to attend a reform school. Along the way, however, Malcolm was sent to a detention home where "bad" boys and girls were held until their hearings.

Owned and run by a white couple, the Swerlins, the detention home was not an unpleasant experience. Malcolm got along well with the Swerlins, and they liked him as well. The detention home was located about twelve miles outside of Lansing, Michigan. When Malcolm was eventually sent to school, he was the only African-American attending. He did very well in school, consistently scoring as one of the top three students in his school. He also played on the basketball team and was elected class president.

While living with the Swerlins, Malcolm's older sister by his...