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Shelley Shaw
Humanities
Professor Price
December 8, 2011
A Lesson Before Dying
Analysis
A Lesson Before Dying’s narrative by Ernest J. Gaines, takes place in 1948 Louisiana
where racial divisions are legitimized by law. Inequalities are evident throughout this storyline
account beginning with “A white man had been killed during a robbery,” Alcee Grope’, by a
black man, Jefferson and concludes with a manslaughter conviction by a “12 all white man jury”,
resulting in the state sanctioned electrocution death of Jefferson (Gaines, pp. 4, 9).
The subsequent paragraphs examine further one man’s plight with the stratagem of
racism and institutionalized segregation in the state of Louisiana.
Question four of our assignment sheet states, “Grant believes that black men in Louisiana
have only three choices: “to die violently”, to be “brought down to the level of beasts”, or “to run
and run”. Grant, in his youth, through interpretation, gained this knowledge while in attendance
at school from Professor Matthew Antoine. Grant does not learn only from the spoken word but
through actions and attitudes of Professor Antoine. References of “To die violently” by gun like
Bear and Brother during a robbery, or “brought down to the level of beasts” to be caged in a jail
cell like Jefferson awaiting slaughter or either flight, to “run and run” solidify education is a
powerful tool to escaping The Quarters. Learn everything you can from Professor Antoine and
“leave to learn from someone else” (Gaines, pp. 62, 63).
Further examination of chapter eight reveals conversations and insights into Professor
Antoine and Grant’s turbulent relationship.

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Instilled are these thoughts into Grant: education over death, jail, or working in the
fields. This would be his and other’s futures if they stayed in The Quarters “because there is no
freedom here.” “There’s no life here.” Again the ugly truth, that without education the
Louisianan black man is in the fields subservient to the white man. “There’s nothing but
ignorance here.” The white man needed the black man ignorant. What educated black man
would work in the fields? Grant is testament to this fact. Though no respect was given from
Grant to Professor Matthew Antoine he listened to the words and interpreted the attitude from his
predecessor. Grant may not have cared for the messenger but he got the message. “He’ll make
you the nigger you were born to be.” This is a despicable statement, but accurate. Professor
Antoine was correct; the white man will have you in the fields yielding to him if you do not
leave The Quarters and receive an education, learn what you can here and “leave to learn from
someone else” (Gaines, pp. 65).
Again Gaines reiterates to the reader the discrepancies between the races in education and
how unsettling the truth really is.
In 1948 we may have had “Separate but Equal” status for blacks and whites but this too
was a ruse. The author Gaines makes reference to this when he speaks of “one firewood delivery
per school year”, and having to use chalk sparingly, for there would be no more if wasted. Also,
black children’s school year was shorter than that of white children’s; black children
supplemented their family’s income by working in the sugarcane and fig tree fields, white
children did not. Also black children did not have a school per se; the black church served as a
school and church while white children mutually had schools and churches (Gaines, pp. 65).
Yesterday and today have many variables between the black and white races; education
being one of them.

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The parallels between 1948 Louisiana and the United States in the 90’s when this novel
was written, or even today, are significant just in the area of education as demonstrated by the
disparaging numbers of high school graduates. The drop-out rate for Louisiana in 2008 for
whites was 4.8% and 10.9% for blacks. Louisiana has the third highest drop-out rate in the
nation. One can only speculate what the statistics of yesterday were in “Separate but Equal”
(Institute of Educational Sciences, 2011).
Bigotry and hatred were not limited to white people of 1948 Louisiana. Such feelings of
superiority are held by much of the black population today as well as yesterday. This is revealed
in the following paragraph.
The amalgamation of the races for both whites and blacks was objectionable in 1948
Louisiana. “I am superior to any man blacker than me” exclaimed Professor Antoine, himself
mulatto. This bigotry and double standard is not only seen in 1948 Louisiana but is regularly
practiced here in America today. Black people judge themselves by this standard. “Black is
Beautiful” professed from the 1970’s, but lighter skin is superior. About two million American
children today have parents of different races. Today in the United States marriages between
blacks and whites increased 400 percent in the last 30 years. In a recent survey, 47% of white
teens and 60% of black teens said they had dated someone of another race. While the
perpetuation of hatred and bigotry passed down through generations will take time to eradicate,
today’s teens seem to be adjusting to society’s changing attitudes of interracial marriage. We will
have to wait for the elders to do the same (American Academy of Child and Adolescent
Psychiatry, 2011).

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Additional statistics of reproachful discrepancies are recognized between the races.
Incarcerated black individual’s numbers of today have risen exponentially over what they were
in Louisiana and neighboring cities in 1948; the consequent paragraph solidifies this fact.
The ensuing statistics confirm to us what we already knew, “In the late 1990s, nearly one
in three black men aged 20-29 were under criminal justice supervision, while more than two out
of five had been incarcerated. Today, 1 in 15 black children have a parent in prison, compared
to 1 in 111 white children. In some areas, a large majority of black men – 55% in Chicago, for
example – are labeled felons for life, and, as a result, may be prevented from voting and
accessing public housing, student loans and other public assistance” (Common Sense For Drug
Policy, 2011) .
What was recognized early by black parents in 1948 Louisiana was that education was
imperative to escaping poverty and working the fields. What black parents of today recognize
and optimistically anticipate is the same; education will give black youth greater prospects to
escape not just poverty but the viscous cycle of violence, drugs, gangs and imprisonment; where
approximately one-third of the black adult male population has been or will be housed sometime
in their lives (Shannon, S., et. al., 2011)

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WORKS CITED
Gaines, Earnest J. A Lesson Before Dying. New York, New York: First Vintage
Contemporaries Edition, 1994.
Institute of Educational Sciences. Updated December 15, 2011 December 2011. 18 December
2011 <http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d10/tables/dt10_113.asp>.
Kirszner, Laurie G., Mandell, Stephen R.. LIT. Boston, Mass.: Wadsworth, Cengage
Learning, 2012.
Common Sense For Drug Policy. Drug War Facts. 2011. 19 December 2011
<http://drugwarfacts.org/cms/?q=node/64>.
American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Multiracial Children. March 2011.
19 December 2011
<http://www.aacap.org/cs/root/facts_for_families/multiracial_children>.
Shannon, Sarah, Uggen, Christopher, Thompson, Melissa, Schnittker, Jason and Massoglia,
Michael. GROWTH IN THE U.S. EX-FELON AND EX-PRISONER POPULATION,
1948 TO 2010. 2011. 24 December 2011
<http://paa2011.princeton.edu/download.aspx?submissionId=111687>.