Short but poignant, Colson Whitehead’s fictional Nickel Boys is based an real life horror that was Dozier School for Boys in Marianna, Florida. True to the actual stories, Whitehead weaves a heartbreaking tale of Jim Crow era racism, abuse and murder. Elwood Curtis, the main character, is a promising young black boy caught in the unforgivable snare of a racist system looking to continue to oppress, control and exploit people. While the school was mixed in race, the black boy population suffered much worse fates than their white counterparts. I’ve also read Erin Kimmerle’s We Carry Their Bones that tells the full story account of the 100 year reign of the Dozier School for Boys, which closed in 2011. As tends to happen (the truth will out), both Kimmerle and Whitehead touch on the explosive discovery of secret graveyards in the grounds, more than 55 bodies, that were murdered and buried. This was an excellent retelling but absolutely heartbreaking and unimaginable what cruelties people are willing to inflict in each other, no less children. There’s a special place in hell…