The Quest of the Silver Fleece

In post-Reconstruction Alabama, amidst the “silver fleece” of the cotton fields, a school for Black children attracts pupils eager to learn (but often unable to pay tuition)—and the hostility of plantation owners intent on maintaining their status and power. Among the pupils are Bles Alwyn, an ambitious and intelligent boy from Georgia, and Zora, an independent and mysterious Black girl from the nearby swamp. The story follows the efforts of Bless and Zora to help others in the working class by providing educational and economic opportunities that trap them in poverty: Bles by working within t