Racism and oppression are known to be some of the core issues in African American literature. This study sheds more light on the perilous struggles made by African Americans in resisting the white supremacy¿s dehumanizing cruelties as portrayed in Ernest J. Gaines¿s The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman. By using Gaines' perspective to analyze the evolution of the concepts of indigenous leadership and freedom in America, this work examines African American leaders¿ fight for freedom and an egalitarian society, encompassing the Civil Rights changes before and after the American Civil War, as they appear in the novel.