It was not that anyone terrible thing happened to Griffin. ‘The incredible vulgarity of highly amplified Hillbilly Music’. That said Griffin does occasionally let himself down with phrases like, Surprisingly for a book written 60 years ago, there are few cringe-worthy moments (though I am tired of the modern dubiously virtuous points scoring one-upmanship that is sometimes on display around correct and incorrect use of language). In 1964 the story was made into a film and a 50th-anniversary edition of the book was published in 2011. The project was underwritten by Sepia magazine, and articles appeared there under the title, ‘ Journey Into Shame’, before the full account was published in book form in 1961. Having completed this experiment he wrote a book about it, ‘ Black like Me’’ which sold a phenomenal 10 million copies (12 million by some estimates) and which helped bring out into the open the festering sore of parts of American society. He also discovered that the all-pervading and malign influence of segregation hung over him to the point where it caused a near breakdown – even in such a short time. Griffin discovered that everyday existence was made deliberately difficult for a black man, who might spend a good part of his day looking for somewhere to eat, drink, rest or use the toilet. Not surprisingly he discovered that this was a self-serving fantasy propagated by those who touted the idea that the rights agenda would only upset what was a happy and ordered social apple cart. ‘ led essentially the same kind of lives whites know, with certain inconveniences caused by discrimination and prejudice’. He wanted to test the idea that black people:

He did this in order to experience, as best he could, the life of a black man. He travelled through New Orleans, parts of Mississippi and into South Carolina and Georgia over a period of weeks in 1959. John Howard Griffin disguised himself as a black man by the use of medication, sun lamps and dye. ‘Rest at pale evening / A tall slim tree / Night coming tenderly / Black like me’ – from, ‘ Dream Variations‘ by Langston Hughes

John howard griffin black