We Mourn the Passing of Ernest Gaines
★ AALBC.com eNewsletter
Author Ernest J. Gaines died in his sleep of cardiac arrest at his home in Oscar, Louisiana November 5. He was 86 years old.
Gaines wrote one of my favorite books, A Lesson Before Dying. The novel, one of the most popular and critically acclaimed books on AALBC, tells a story that reveals the power of love expressed through teaching, when wisdom is related not just information. Gaines was probably best known for his novel The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman the fictionalized story of a woman who lived long enough to have experienced both the horrors of enslavement and the pride of the Civil Rights Movement.
Gaines’ passing signals the lost of storytellers old enough to have have known formerly enslaved citizens of America, and with his transition we lose an important window into our past. Fortunately Gaines’ literary legacy will remain with us — all we have to do is read.
2019 Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence
Now in its 13th year, the Gaines Award honors rising African-American authors, while paying tribute to Gaines, a literary legend who grew up in Louisiana’s Pointe Coupee Parish.
Houston author Bryan Washington’s debut novel, Lot, has won the 2019 Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence. Lot is a collection of short stories set in various Houston communities, but primarily in the East End, where Washington was raised.
A Lesson Before Dying (1999 TV Movie)
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★ AALBC.com eNewsletter
Author Ernest J. Gaines died in his sleep of cardiac arrest at his home in Oscar, Louisiana November 5. He was 86 years old.
Gaines wrote one of my favorite books, A Lesson Before Dying. The novel, one of the most popular and critically acclaimed books on AALBC, tells a story that reveals the power of love expressed through teaching, when wisdom is related not just information. Gaines was probably best known for his novel The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman the fictionalized story of a woman who lived long enough to have experienced both the horrors of enslavement and the pride of the Civil Rights Movement.
Gaines’ passing signals the lost of storytellers old enough to have have known formerly enslaved citizens of America, and with his transition we lose an important window into our past. Fortunately Gaines’ literary legacy will remain with us — all we have to do is read.
2019 Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence
Now in its 13th year, the Gaines Award honors rising African-American authors, while paying tribute to Gaines, a literary legend who grew up in Louisiana’s Pointe Coupee Parish.
Houston author Bryan Washington’s debut novel, Lot, has won the 2019 Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence. Lot is a collection of short stories set in various Houston communities, but primarily in the East End, where Washington was raised.
A Lesson Before Dying (1999 TV Movie)
Plot
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- Summaries (2)
- In the 1940s South, an African-American man is wrongly accused of the killing of a white store owner. In his defense, his white attorney equates him with a lowly hog, to indicate that he didn't have the sense to know what he was doing. Nevertheless convicted, he is sentenced to die, but his godmother and the aunt of the local schoolteacher convince the schoolteacher to go to the convicted man's cell each day to try to reaffirm to him that he is not an animal but a man with dignity.
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