Jim Crow Era
At the time the novel, ‘A Lesson Before Dying’ by Ernest J. Gaines, was written and published (1940’s), Jim Crow laws were strictly enforced and segregation between blacks and whited was prominent. To succeed in society proved to be much harder to do if your skin color was dark.
When reading first hand accounts of people who lived in the time of Jim Crow laws, I was able to make many connections to charcters in the book. In one account by Roceal Duke, he describes his teacher as someone who encourages his students to achieve their personal best, failing was not an option. “Our teachers’ mission was clear–to make sure that we were capable of competing with anybody, anywhere…”. This is in contrast to Grant Wiggins, a respected teacher within his society in the novel. When he looks at his students, he sees what they will become as they grow older. Almost all will be driven into simple labor and other menial jobs. It seems he finds no reason to motivate them. He succeeded in his educatuion and was fortunate enough to go to college. Yet it seems he is right back wehere he started. This is just one of the cycles present in this book.
