“We must believe in our souls that we are somebody, that we are significant, that we are worthful, and we must walk the streets of life every day with this sense of dignity and this sense of somebody-ness.” These are words from the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and they serve as an inspirational catalyst for Colson Whitehead’s 2020 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “The Nickel Boys.”
The book, which followed Whitehead’s critically acclaimed “The Underground Railroad,” shadows the gut-wrenching tale of two Black boys, Elwood (Ethan Herisse) and Turner (Brandon Wilson), negotiating their hard-time served in a severe reform school, Nickel Academy, and attempting to claim, protect and nurture their own humanity in a world that isn’t always kind or welcoming to people of color, particularly Black men.