The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman by Ernest Gaines

This historical fiction is told in narrative style by the titular character. The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman covers the struggle with slavery from the Civil War era to the early 1960s and the civil rights movement. In the novel, Ned Douglass, Jimmy Aaron, and Miss Jane Pittman exhibit political activism in effective ways, even to the point of risking death. Only the wise and cautious Miss Jane survives as Ned and Jimmy, idealistic and brilliant, die in efforts to bring to their people a heightened awareness of the injustice that permeates their lives. Ernest Gaines concerns the reader with universal themes of innate goodness, the wisdom of suffering, self-respect and self-esteem, interracial attitudes, racial prejudice, faith and the afterlife, and social sin and injustice.

About the Series:

Novel/Drama curriculum units contain complete lesson plans with preliminary and follow-up work, teacher notes with plot summary, background, and rationale, ready-to-use worksheets, and suggested answers for student questions. These study guides encourage the development of thinking, reading, speaking, research, and writing skills as well as critical thinking skills such as analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.