honored posthumously. >>> february is black history month, and we have a profile today of novelist ernest gaines. he is probably best known for his historical novel, later made into a movie, "the autobiography of miss jane pittman." he also wrote "a lesson before dying" and "a gathering of old men." gains says the lives of his forbears, their struggles against racism, and thei religious fervor have been essential to his writing. gaines talked with bob faw. >> reporter: ernest gaines is older now, 78, and hobbled by a bad back, but as he slowly makes his way to the church where as a boy he rang the bell at funerals, he will not, indeed, cannot forget the debt he owes to his ancestors in this louisiana bayou country. >> without them, buried back there under those pecan trees, i would not be the writer today, if i would be a writer at all. >> reporter: for more than 50ears, he has brought them to life in short stories and novels, some made into major films. ♪ happy birthday to you >> reporter: perhaps his most famous novel, "the autobiography of miss jane pittman," charts the dawn of the civil righ