The Nickel Boys, the 2019 novel written by Colson Whitehead, is a contemporary work of historical fiction that deals with racism, rebellion, and violence. A third-person omniscient narrator tells the story of Elwood Curtis, a young Black boy living in Eleanor, Florida, during the time of the Civil Rights Movement. Elwood is unjustly sentenced to attend the fictional Nickel Academy, which is based on a real-life Florida reform school that was ultimately investigated and shut down. The Nickel Boys was awarded the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
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