In Ernest Gaines novel, `A Lesson Before Dying' the story unfolds from the cataclysmic trial of Jefferson. It takes Jefferson's sacrifice for Grant to learn parallel to Jefferson the importance of dignity and love for one another in an abject environment. Racial prejudice has become deeply embedded into the fibre of the society, creating cynicism and despair in the black people. As demonstrated by former teacher Matthew Antoine's attitude "it doesn't matter anymore. Just do the best you can. But it won't matter."

The racial prejudice is evident in both the socio-economic and legal structure of Bayonne. Haines uses Jefferson's unjust trial in which he is wrongly convicted of murder "by twelve white men" and sentenced to death by electrocution. Jefferson's defence attorney, in an attempt to sway the jury, portrays Jefferson as a `hog' and a "thing to dig ditches", "a thing to load bales of hay...