The True Story Of Abuse And Injustice Behind 'Nickel Boys'

Fresh Air

NPR

Tv & Film, Arts, Society & Culture, Books

4.4 • 34.4K Ratings

🗓️ 17 January 2025

⏱️ 49 minutes

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Summary

Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Colson Whitehead's The Nickel Boys has been adapted for the big screen. In 2019, Whitehead spoke with Dave Davies when the book was released. It's set in the early '60s, based on the true story of the Dozier reform school in Florida, where many boys were beaten and sexually abused. Dozens of unmarked graves have been discovered on the school grounds. "If there's one place like this, there are many," he says.

Later, guest critic Martin Johnson reviews a new recording featuring two giants of jazz. And film critic Justin Chang reviews Mike Leigh's new film, Hard Truths.

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0:22.9	This is Fresh Air. I'm Dave Davies. In 2019, Colson Whitehead landed on the cover of Time
0:29.9	magazine next to a caption that called him America's storyteller. He's earned that honor over the
0:36.1	course of nine novels that have ranged from
0:38.5	Rye speculative fiction to zombie apocalypse to sobering historical fiction, all of them in various
0:44.8	ways considering the topic of race in America. His 2016 novel, The Underground Railroad,
0:51.0	was adapted into an Amazon TV series directed by Barry Jenkins,
0:55.5	who directed Moonlight and If Beale Street Could Talk.
0:59.5	Whitehead's 2019 novel The Nickel Boys has been adapted into a film of the same name,
1:04.6	now in theaters.
1:06.0	It's based on the true story of the now-closed Dozier School for Boys in Florida,
1:12.2	where former students have reported being brutally beaten or sexually abused. The central character of Whitehead's book
1:17.8	is Elwood, a hardworking college-bound African-American high school student who believes in the
1:23.6	promise of the civil rights movement. Here's a clip from the film directed by Ramele Ross.
1:29.3	Elwood, played by Ethan Harisi, is speaking to Turner, a fellow schoolmate played by Brandon
1:34.5	Wilson.
1:35.6	Elwood has just been beaten by the school staff after he intervened to help a student
1:40.2	being attacked by a bully.
1:42.4	If everybody looks the other way, then everybody's in on it.
	...

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