A Lesson before Dying and the History of Racism

Valerie Babb, in "Old Fashioned Modernism: 'The Changing Same' in A Lesson before Dying," talks about Ernest Gaines in the modernist tradition. Defining modernism, broadly, "as a severing with traditions of the past and a quest for new forms of expression," Babb argues that Gaines fits this definition and that along with breaking from traditional forms, "modernism [and Gaines] also embraces a break with accepted history" (250, 251). To show this, Babb quotes, at length, from Jefferson's defense attorney at the beginning of the novel. The defense attorney says:

Gentlemen of the jury, look at him--look at him--look at this. Do you see a man sitting here? Do you see a man sitting here? I ask you, I implore, look carefully--do you see a man sitting here? Look at the shape of this skull, this face as flat as the palm of my hand--look deeply into those eyes. Do you see a modicum of intelligence? Do you see anyone here who could plan a murder, a robbery, can plan--can plan--can plan anything? A cornered animal to strike quickly out of fear, a trait inherited from his ancestors in the deepest jungle of blackest Africa--yes, yes, that he can do--but to plan? To plan, gentlemen of the jury? No, gentlemen, this skull here holds no plans. What you see here is a thing that acts on command. A thing to hold the handle of a plow, a thing to load your bales of cotton, a thing to dig your ditches, to chop your wood, to pull your corn. That is what you see here, but you do not see anything capable of planning a robbery or a murder. Ask him to name the months of the year. Ask him does Christmas come before or after the Fourth of July? Mention the names of Keats, Byron, Scott, and see whether the eyes will show one moment of recognition. Ask him to describe a rose, to quote one passage from the Constitution or the Bill of Rights. Gentlemen of the jury, this man planned a robbery? Oh, pardon me, pardon me, I surely did not mean to insult your intelligence by saying 'man'--would you please forgive me for committing such an error? (7-8)

In his comments, the defense attorney basically lays out all of the socially constructed tenets that whites used to keep African Americans in a subservient position. The novel strives to repudiate these myths, and to "break with accepted history." Near the end of the novel, Grant asks Jefferson if he knows what a myth is. Grant elaborates and says, "A myth is an old lie that people believe in. White people believe that they're better than anyone else on earth--and that's a myth. The last thing they ever want is to see a black man stand, and think, and show that common humanity that is in us all. It would destroy their myths" (192).

The defense attorney's speech is at 5:06 in the clip above. While looking at the modernist impulses in Gaines' work is important, the defense attorney's speech above can be used as a pedagogical jumping off point for the history of the oppression of African Americans in the country and in Louisiana. Gaines deftly presents historical arguments regarding race in a succinct paragraph. He moves from phrenology, to "uncivilized" Africa, to African Americans as commodities for work (think slavery), to African Americans as "uncivilized" because they do not know poetry, to the government's "systematic denial of political enfranchisement to African Americans" (Babb 253).

Below, you will find a list of books that will provide more information in regards to the history of racism in the United States and the world.

• Jacqueline Bacon Freedom's Journal: The First African American Newspaper (2007)
• Ira Berlin The Making of African America: The Four Great Migrations (2010)
• Mia Bay The White Image in the Black Mind: African-American Ideas About White People 1830-1925 (2000)
• Bruce Dain A Hideous Monster of the Mind: American Race Theory in the Early Republic (2003)
• George M. Fredrickson The Black Image in the White Mind: The Debate on Afro-American Character and Destiny, 1817-1914 (1987)

There are other books that talk about the history of racism. If you know of any that others should look in to post them in the comments and I will add them to this list.