The Mighty Miss Malone

Stew turns out to be a woman named Donna Stewart. She welcomes the Malones to choose a vacant tent near the fire and explains the camp rules of cleanliness and use of latrines. Mother says several times they will be there only one night, but the next day she is unable to find Father’s mother; Mother, Deza, and Jimmie soon settle in for a longer stay in the camp than anticipated. Deza meets Kathleen and Loretta Small, girls close to her age who say they will attend school together. Deza goes on rounds with Stew each morning and observes how she helps lead the camp with helpful job information and keeping notes on cleanliness. Mother gets work cleaning, and Jimmie picks up odd jobs.

Deza starts school in Flint which is very different from Gary: All the teachers and most of the students are white. She is very different now too; she does not even cry when she gets a C+ on her first essay. Loretta claims she must be very smart, because the prejudiced teachers there never give higher than a C on subjective scores to any Black students. In math, the teacher requires Deza to complete additional problems after she aces the first test.