STRIVING follows our protagonist Student as they set out on a journey led by W.E.B DuBois, the father of contemporary black political thought, to join the ranks of notable black figures folded into the coveted group that DuBois historically coined as the ‘Talented Tenth’. This hero’s journey quickly dissolves into a tale confronting the consequences of education, legacy, and the crippling anxiety of attaining black exceptionalism in a world that expects nothing less.