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Chronology

Elwood Curtis’ college dream collapses alongside a two-lane Florida highway. Bearing the brunt of an innocent mistake, he is sentenced to Nickel Academy, a brutal reformatory steeped in the Jim Crow South. He encounters another ward, the all-seeing Turner. The two black teenagers form an alliance: Turner dispenses basic survival advice, Elwood clings to his optimistic worldview. Against the backdrop of the burgeoning Civil Rights Movement, Elwood and Turner’s existence seems a far cry from the refined oratory of the Rev. Martin Luther King. Despite Nickel’s brutality, Elwood struggles to maintain his humanity, awakening a new vision in Turner.