The Nickel boys, by Colson Whitehead

A short, devastating book based on real events that happened at a “school for boys” in Florida.  The Nickel Academy is a segregated reform school near Tallahassee.  Generations of juveniles have been incarcerated there until they either served out their terms, aged out of the system, or, in some cases, mysteriously disappeared.  No one has an easy time there, but the black inmates fair far worse. After the school closes in contemporary times, its graveyard is exhumed for relocation since the area is being redeveloped.  A young woman archeology student notices that “the dirt looked wrong” in areas outside of the official graveyard.  These indentations turn out to be the unmarked graves of those who disappeared.  This is the story of two of those boys.  Tautly written, full of memorable characters, and a reminder of how far we still have to come to reach any kind of racial justice.  Deserves all the critical acclaim it has received, both for the story and for the outstanding writing.  213 pp.