In the 1930s southern rural town of Anniston, Alabama, Fannie, a 20-year-old college graduate, hopes to teach in Chicago, Illinois like her Uncle Keiber. To Fannie, having a formal education and working in Chicago, dreams to many African Americans, mean the ultimate liberty. After losing the chance to work in Chicago, Fannie convinces Pastor Brown that she will commit to the teaching position at Zion Hill Academy and help him convince the Anniston School Board to approve the school's charter. But her future job is in jeopardy when Sam Addams, the bitter head of the school board, does everything he can to delay the school's opening as well as proving that no African American is fit to teach in or head a school. After a disastrous meeting with the school board, Fannie's faith wanes. She thinks the board will never approve the school's charter, which means that Fannie could work the rest of her life as a maid. Fannie and Sam's mother, Isabelle, devise a plan, which includes Patrick, Sam's son, to show Sam Addams and the school board that the academy is needed in the community, that the board has no choice but to approve the charter, and that Sam is wrong in thinking his son unintelligent. At the last school board meeting before the semester starts, Fannie proves that Patrick is intelligent and that she can certainly teach and head a school. After the charter passes and Fannie earns the position of Head Mistress of Zion Hill Academy, Fannie learns that she can have all she wants and liberty, even at home.