Text won't show over background

I created a green-green gradient box and then sent it to the back through the Object-Arrange menu prompt.  I washed-out part of that box with a no-stroke, no-fill ellipse to create a curved, sweeping white space over part of the gradient.  Then I tried creating text over the remaining gradient.  I have black text (black stroke & black fill) in the box, but it won't show over the green gradient.  If I select and drag the text box off my document, it shows just fine.  But it disappears behind the gradient, which is the back layer. I'm completely lost why I can't see my text.