Examining Ernest J. Gaines’s fiction A Lesson Before Dying (1993) and “The Sky Is Gray,” this paper reveals the interesting characterization of black men and women. In his fiction, Gaines depicts a journey of black men who transform their characters and try to restore their dignity and civil rights. They change themselves from nobody to somebody and establish their new identities, which are more autonomous, independent, and powerful in a racially conflicted America. In the core of their transformation are black women, mothers, and othermothers. Without women, there should be no transformation. This paper revises the reputation of Gaines as a writer of black men, constructing a paradigm of the coming of age engendered by black women. (Chonbuk National University)