Gaines, Ernest J.

In a small Louisiana town troubled by Jim Crow, reporter Louis Guerin witnesses Brady Sims shoot a young black man convicted of robbery and murder in the courthouse. Guerin heads to the local barbershop to get a human interest story on Sims. Sims is known around the town for disciplining wayward young black residents to keep them out of Angola, the state penitentiary. The barbers and customers reflect on Sims' sad life story and on a poor black community struggling to survive.

Tells the story of a young African-American man sentenced to death for a murder he did not commit, and a teacher who tries to impart to him his learning and pride before the execution.

A young African-American man living in Louisiana in the 1940s is wrongly convicted of murder. Awaiting a death sentence, he receives jail cell visits from the local teacher who attempts to impart some wisdom and pride to the condemned man before his death.

A young black boy living on a cane plantation recounts the events of the day his parents separate and are reconciled.

The story of two young black men, one condemned to death for a murder and the other a teacher, who form a bond in a small Cajun Louisiana community in the late 1940s.

The sweeping saga of a black woman's triumph over slavery and oppression.

Presents the life story of Miss Jane Pittman, who was born a slave on a Louisiana plantation before the Civil War and who lived to be 110 years old.