A Lesson Before Dying Is Ernest J. Gaines' eighth novel, published in 1993.
 While it is a fictional work, it is loosely based on the true story of Willie Francis, a young Black man sentenced to death by the electric chair twice in Louisiana, in 1945 and 1947.
Richard Yates (February 3, 1926 – November 7, 1992) was an American fiction writer, identified with the mid-century "Age of Anxiety".
 His first novel, "Revolutionary Road", was a finalist for the 1962 National Book Award.
 His first short story collection, "Eleven Kinds of Loneliness", brought comparisons to James Joyce.
 His critical acclaim, however, was not reflected in commercial success during his lifetime, though interest in Yates has revived somewhat since his death, partly because of an influential 1999 essay by Stewart O'Nan in the Boston Review, a 2003 biography by Blake Bailey and the 2008 Academy Award-nominated and Golden Globe-winning film "Revolutionary Road", starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio.
Eleven Kinds of Loneliness is a collection of short stories written by Richard Yates from 1951 to 1961.
 All of the stories in "Eleven Kinds of Loneliness" also appeared in the posthumously released "Collected Stories of Richard Yates" (2001).
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman is a 1971 novel by Ernest J. Gaines.
 The story depicts the struggles of African Americans as seen through the eyes of the narrator, a woman named Jane Pittman.
 She tells of the major events of her life from the time she was a young slave girl in the American South at the end of the Civil War.
A Lesson Before Dying is a television film released in 1999 adapted from the Ernest J. Gaines novel of the same name.
 It won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Television Movie.
Ernest James Gaines (born January 15, 1933) is an African-American author whose works have been taught in college classrooms and translated into many languages, including French, Spanish, German, Russian and Chinese.
 Four of his works have been made into television movies.
The Gov. Richard Yates House is a historic house located at 1190 Williams Boulevard in Springfield, Illinois.
 The house was built in 1904-05 for Illinois governor Richard Yates, Jr. Architects Helmle and Helmle designed the house, which has Romanesque Revival and Queen Anne influences.
 The house's first floor has rusticated stone walls, as do both stories of the turret on the west side; it is a rare example of rusticated stone in a residential Helmle & Helmle design.
 The front entrance opens to a great hall, which connects the interior rooms; this arrangement allowed Yates to host political gatherings in his home.
 A landing in front of the fireplace provided a raised space for Yates or his guests to give speeches.
 Yates left the governor's office the same year his house was completed; he later served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1919 to 1933.
In May 1948, the President of the Naval War College Admiral Raymond Spruance recommended a plan to establish a civilian professorship of maritime history at the Naval War College.
 Approved by Secretary of the Navy John L. Sullivan (Navy) on 29 December 1948, the post was not filled “for lack of funds” until 1951, when Thomas C. Mendenhall of Yale University was appointed to the position.
 In 1953, Secretary of the Navy Robert Bernard Anderson named the chair in honor of Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King, recognizing King’s great personal interest in maritime history.
 The Ernest J. King chair was named and first filled during the tenure of Professor Clarence H. Haring.
 At that point, there was only one other named academic chair in the United States for the field of maritime history, that held by the Gardiner Professor of Oceanic History and Affairs established at Harvard University in 1948.
The Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence is a national literary award designed to recognize rising African-American fiction writers.
 It is underwritten by donors of the Baton Rouge Area Foundation in honor of the literary heritage provided by author Ernest J. Gaines.
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman is a 1974 made for television movie based on the novel of the same name by Ernest J. Gaines.

Question: are Richard Yates and Ernest J. Gaines both Americans ?
Answer: yes