The film Nickel Boys shines a light on the horrific abuses faced by Black children at the Arthur G Dozier School for Boys, a real-life reform school notorious for its cruelty. Set against the backdrop of Jim Crow segregation, the film reveals the extensive cover-ups and violence by staff against the boys. By securing a best picture nomination at the Academy Awards, the movie allows this tragic history to be acknowledged widely, ensuring that the painful legacies of state-sanctioned racism are not forgotten and are discussed in academic and cinematic contexts.
'The adaptation of Colson Whitehead's Pulitzer Prize-winning 2019 novel reveals stark truths about the ordeal the Dozier boys endured, including the abuse and violence inflicted upon them by staff and guards, and how white officials hid the truth for years.'
'Quite literally, the boys were buried, and the history was attempted to be buried, Ross said. Now [the Dozier story] is elevated to academic history, to literature history, to like the annals of cinema.'
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