In A Lesson Before Dying by Romulus Linney, Linney highlights the abundant inequalities and obstacles that African Americans faced daily in Southern society and government during the 1900s . Romulus Linney was a white man born in 1930, in Philadelphia, but raised in North Carolina and Tennessee. Linney attended Oberlin College for her undergraduate studies and continued her studies at the Yale School of Drama for her master's degree (Fleming). After his education and being drafted into the Army, Linney made an adaptation of Ernest Gaines' A Lesson Before Dying. Ernest Gaines was an African American man who grew up in slavery and used his personal experiences as inspiration for his work (Babb). Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayLinney conveys Gaines' message by telling the story of a local black man named Jefferson. Jefferson was wrongly convicted and sentenced to death for the robbery and murder of a white man; far from being an anomalous event for the time period. The characters, Grant Wiggins, the local school teacher, and Miss Emma, ​​Jefferson's godmother, have the opportunity to visit Jefferson as he awaits his death in a prison cell. Mr. Wiggins and Miss Emma choose to take advantage of that time to change Jefferson's attitude towards his life. On the surface, Jefferson is the individual who needs Grant Wiggin's help to find himself, but as the show progresses, we move away from the idea that Jefferson is the one who needs help, and instead is directed to the idea that Jefferson, instead, acts as a catalyst for each character's self-discovery. Throughout the exposition of the play, Linney uses the trial scene as a perfect passage to expose the psychological effects of racism on a person and also as a basis for the play that will follow. Jefferson did not doubt his manhood, until his trial, where he was the victim of racism within the legal system. “What justice would there be to take this life? Justice, gentlemen? Why, I would put a pig in the electric chair right now.” (Lesson Before Dying 7). While representing and defending Jefferson in court, Jefferson's attorney refers to him as a "pig" after various presentations to the jury of evidence that would prove Jefferson's innocence. The change in strategy made by the lawyer was done to adhere to society's preconceived beliefs about blacks and win the case by personifying Jefferson as animalistic and incapable of planning a murder. The lawyer's strategy failed and caused a profound change in Jefferson's psychological state. Jefferson, after the trial, behaved as if he were a pig; asking for corn and walking on hands and knees. Without the trial, Jefferson would never have had the psychological breakthrough and would never have needed Mr. Wiggins. Linney wrote all the characters as dynamic characters, but Mr. Wiggins is one of the most dynamic characters in the play. Wiggins is written to represent the internal struggles of what African Americans have gone through; deeper than the struggles Jefferson represents. Over the course of the film, audience members understand that Mr. Wiggins was sent to college through a collective contribution from their community, with the intention that he would return and educate younger generations. The education Mr. Wiggin sought was supposed to improve his quality of life, but in an ironic turn of events he developed a hatred of the white man and a distance from his own community. When yes..”