A Lesson Before Dying

Name: A Lesson Before Dying
Author: Ernest J. Gaines

by Ernest J. Gaines

Novel about a Black man's execution and a teacher's quest to restore his dignity

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About the author

Ernest J. Gaines

Ernest J. Gaines wrote with quiet authority about Louisiana's Black community spanning several decades of the twentieth century. A Lesson Before Dying and The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman are his most beloved works.

More by Ernest J. Gaines

The Autobiography of Miss Jane PittmanNovel as oral history of a Black woman spanning slavery, Reconstruction, and civil rights
A Gathering of Old MenNovel of elderly men confronting violence, brotherhood, and reconciliation in the rural South
In My Father's HouseNovel exploring family secrets, faith, and redemption in a small Southern community
Of Love and DustNovel about a Black man torn between two women in rural Louisiana plantation society