"Proud and Angry Dust tells the story of Moose O'Malley, an African American boy coming of age in 1920s Texas. When Moose is eleven years old, oil is discovered in his quiet little east Texas town of Knox Plains. As thieves, hustlers, and other shady characters converge in the community in search of easy swindles from the new wealth, Moose begins to lose his small town innocence.

He also develops a deep distrust of women from seeing beautiful and glamorous con artists lie, cheat, and steal their way into men's hearts and pocketbooks. Two separate murders involving money further darken Moose's view of human nature, and when his uncle Barnett confides that he witnessed one of the murders, Moose resolves to see justice done to the killers.".

"Amid this turmoil and trauma, Moose dreams of one day going to college and becoming a research chemist. Through his Huck Finn-like misadventures with Barnett, he meets Elliot Singer, a Harvard-educated black lawyer who helps with not only his pursuit of an education, but also his efforts to bring to justice those responsible for the murders in Knox Plains.

Elliot helps him enter a summer program at Tuskegee, and while attending the program with Betsy, Elliot's younger sister, Moose begins to fall in love in spite of himself. And when the stock market crash of 1929 threatens to derail his college dreams, help comes from an unexpected source."--BOOK JACKET.