Ernest J. Gaines: Letters of My Ancestors

What It Takes®

Academy of Achievement

Film, Politics, Arts, Self-help, Sports, Society & Culture, Success, Literature, Humanitarian, Military, Social Justice, Technology, Podcast, Achievement, Music, Science

4.6 • 943 Ratings

🗓️ 6 November 2017

⏱️ 38 minutes

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Summary

Ernest Gaines grew up in the 1930's and 40's on the same Louisiana plantation where his ancestors were once slaves. After he became a successful and celebrated novelist, he returned, bought the land, and lives there even now. The voices he heard as a child, telling stories on the porch or around the fire, are the voices that populate his novels: "A Lesson Before Dying," "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman," "A Gathering of Old Men," and others. In this episode, Gaines describes the path that led him from picking cotton, to falling in love with literature, to writing award-winning novels. At the same time, he shares his profound feelings about the limitations of that success. (c ) American Academy of Achievement 2017

Transcript

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0:00.0	When I was in about 6th grade there was a major event on television, one that every family I knew watched.
0:13.0	It was an epic story starring Sicily Tyson
0:17.0	about a woman born in slavery who lived to be 110,
0:21.0	long enough to see the beginnings of the civil rights movement.
0:25.3	When the film aired in 1974, that was three years before Roots, it was a novelty to see African
0:32.3	American life and history depicted with any depth or truth.
0:38.0	That film was the autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman,
0:42.0	and it was based on a book written by Ernest J. Gaines.
0:47.0	Gaines went on to write other classic works of American fiction, including a gathering of old men, and a lesson before dying.
0:56.2	His own remarkable story is the subject of this episode of what it takes, a podcast about
1:02.0	passion, vision, and perseverance from the Academy of Achievement.
1:07.0	I'm Alice Winkler.
1:09.0	Had a maid, this child is gifted, and I heard that enough that I started to believe it.
1:15.0	If you have the opportunity, not a perfect opportunity and you don't take it, you may never have another child.
1:21.0	It all was so clear.
1:22.9	It was just like the picture started to form itself.
1:26.0	There was no way in which a lie could prevail over the truth,
1:30.6	darkness over light, death over life.
1:34.0	Every day I wake up and decide.
1:36.7	Today I'm going to love my life.
1:39.4	Decide.
1:41.4	My advice is, if they're going to break your leg once when you go in that place stay out of there.
	...

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