Malcolm Williams feels like nothing good ever happens for teens like him in D.C. With growing violence in his neighborhood, his mother ships him off to his father's family farm in Mississippi. He learns from his great-aunt that the State is acquiring the farm to widen a highway. One minute Malcolm is drawing in the farmhouse attic, and the next he's looking through the eyes of his ancestor Cedric Johnson in 1866. As Cedric, Malcolm meets the real-life Black statesmen who fought for change during the Reconstruction era: Hiram Revels, Robert Smalls, and other leaders who made American history. After witnessing their bravery, Malcolm knows that the gains these statesmen made were almost immediately stripped away. If those great men couldn't completely succeed, why should he try?