A Lesson Before Dying

Grant Wiggins (Don Cheadle) is an African-American schoolteacher in the pre-Civil Rights Movement South who feels conflicted about his status as one of the only educated black men in his area. When Grant learns of Jefferson (Mekhi Phifer), a young black man falsely accused of killing a white shop owner, he reluctantly visits the condemned prisoner. Gradually, the two form a friendship, and Grant tries to remind Jefferson of his value as a human being.