Into Oblivion(black man 1959)
For years John Howard Griffin had pondered the idea of what it would be like to live as black man in the Deep South in the late 1950's. Griffin was a specialist in race issues; he was very aware of the fact that a black man would never speak the truth about his situation to a white man. Griffin explained that the blacks of the South had learned not to speak of anything that the white man might find displeasing, doing so would most certainly be in vain. The white man would simply not listen, or make sure that the black man's life became one of misery. Griffin was not satisfied in hearing only the answers a black man would give to a white man. He felt that if he was ever going to intimately understand the life of a black man in the South of the late 1950's he must become a black man himself. Griffin was more than aware of the risks that doing something of this nature would bring to himself and to his family, but he did it all the same. Griffin must have been an incredibly compassionate man. Griffin would make his transformation to a black man through the use of medication and exposure to a sun lamp. He would leave behind his identity as a white man and his family for seven weeks. As Griffin left the office of the doctor who helped h
Griffin took note of the decaying state of the outhouse behind the food stand and asked if there might be some place closer. Griffin's journey as a black man took place less than fifty years ago. While making his way through Mississippi, several men who insisted on questioning him about his sex life picked up Griffin. When Griffin refused to answer one man about his desires to be with a white woman the man insisted that he was lying and quickly told him he was not going to drive him any farther. It is amazing to believe that in America people would have been treated in this manner. One especially vital need always proved to be a problem, where could he find a restroom he would be allowed to enter? One establishment, a small food stand, was more than happy to take Griffin's money, but when he asked about a restroom their willingness to help him quickly vanished. One way that the whites of the South insured that the black man would remain a second class citizen was an economic one. If they had nothing to lose what difference would it make if they were to die in a car accident or a knife fight (p. Another vital need that was often difficult for the black man to meet was finding a restaurant that would serve him. The whites would get the black man into debt and make sure he stayed there. Griffin found it close to impossible to find work as a black man.
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