Which writer was African-American, Patrick White or Ernest J. Gaines?
Patrick White Patrick Victor Martindale White (28 May 191230 September 1990) was an Australian writer who is widely regarded as one of the most important English-language novelists of the 20th century. From 1935 to 1987, he published twelve novels, three short-story collections and eight plays.
Walter Irvin Walter Lee Irvin was born in Lake County, Florida. He served in the United States Army during World War II. In 1949, he and three other black men (Ernest Thomas, Charles Greenlee, and Samuel Shepherd) were accused of raping a young white woman named Norma Padgett in Groveland, Florida. Newspapers called them the Groveland Four or the Groveland Boys. He was tried twice, the second time after the United States Supreme Court ordered a retrial. He was convicted both times and sentenced to death. In 1955, Florida Governor LeRoy Collins commuted his sentence to life, as he was not convinced of Irvin's guilt. In 1968 he was paroled from prison.