John Howard Griffin Wonders What I Would Be Like If He Was A Black Man

October 28, 1959: John Howard Griffin wonders what it would be like if he was a black man. There has been an increase in suicides committed by southern black people. Realizing the only way to truly experience the discrimination that African Americans face in the South is to become a black person, he decides he must do this.
October 29, 1959: John Howard Griffin goes to converses with the owner (George Levitan) and editorial director (Adelle Jackson) of Sepia, a magazine whose audience consists predominately of black people. Both Mr. Levitan and Mrs. Jackson think this idea is very dangerous, but they are willing to help. Griffin tells his wife his plan when he gets back home. She will operate as a single mother while he is away.
October 30,

1959: He tells a couple members of the FBI his plan over lunch.
November 1, 1959: Griffin flies to New Orleans and stays in the French Quarter, He really enjoys walking around the city and experiencing the lively New Orleans. John Howard Griffin goes to a friend’s house when he starts to darken his pigment.
November 2, 1959: Griffin finds a dermatologist who is willing to assist him in darkening his skin tone.

The dermatologist recommends using UV rays to do this. Griffin is worried about the possible repercussions so he chooses not to get his friend involved. John Howard Griffin visits a section of New Orleans that is mostly made up of black people to see if he can find connections so it will be easier for him to join their community.
November 6: Griffin continues to go through treatment to darken his skin color. The dermatologist begins to question if this is a good idea or not. According to the dermatologist, black people with a lighter pigmentation are treated better than those of a darker complexion. While walking through the streets of New Orleans, Griffin meets Sterling Williams, an African American WW1 veteran. Sterling could be a potential contact to help him get into the African-American community of New Orleans.
November 7: He visited the doctor for the last time. Griffin shaves his head. When John Howard Griffin looked in the mirror, he freaked out because he didn’t recognize his own reflection. This made him very self-conscious and feel like he was a completely different person. As Griffin walked through New Orleans, he was treated completely different, almost as if he was invisible. He walks to the hotel. Inside the hotel, Griffin goes to the bathroom. There is another man waiting to take a shower. They talk, John goes back to his room, and then he goes to

bed.
November 8: John Howard Griffin leaves the hotel and realizes that he is in the ghetto. He stops and grabs some breakfast at café nearby. Black people are friendly towards him. Griffin talks with a guy who tells him that he could stay at the YMCA and that finding places to pee is difficult and inconvenient. John leaves the café and gets on a bus. He almost gives up his seat to an old lady, but realizes that would have only been polite if he was white. It, in fact, would go against his race. John Howard Griffin hasn’t completely acclimated to being black yet. A white woman yells at him for looking at her. Later, Griffin gets off the bus at Canal Street. He ambles around the French Quarter until he decides to go to the shoeshine stand where Sterling Williams works. At first, Sterling didn’t recognize Griffin. When he almost done shining Griffin’s shoes, he recognizes that they were the shoes of John Howard Griffin. When Griffin tells Sterling that he is Griffin, Sterling is dumbfounded. He takes John under his wing and teaches him how to be a black person. Sterling tells Griffin to shave his hands because black people don’t have blond arm hair. After a while, Sterling forgets that Griffin is white and talks to him like he is a fellow African-American. Some black woman flirts with Griffin while he is talking to Sterling. The guy who runs the shoeshine shop, Joe, comes over and fixes lunch for the Griffin, Sterling, and himself. There is a beggar that wants some of the food. Griffin decides to go to the YMCA. When he gets there, he meets Mrs. Davis and talks to smart black men about politics. He goes to bed and wakes up to his phone ringing. Because he is hungry, he decides to head out to gets some food. Along the way some white man stalks and bullies him.
November 10-12: Griffin walks around looking for another job, but unfortunately cannot find one. He goes to the café and talks to others about the inequality in job opportunities for black people. Griffin goes and walks around the French Quarter. He sits on a bench, but a white man told him to get off. Griffin assumed that the bench might have been a white only bench, but later learned that the man was just being racist. John later gets on a bus. The bus driver intentionally drives 8 blocks away from where John Howard Griffin wants to get off.
November 14: The African American community is upset with the Mississippi jury’s decision in the Parker lynch case. Mack Parker was kidnapped and hung by a group of white people. The jury decided they were not guilty. Griffin decides that he is going to Mississippi. Since he is low on cash, he tries to cash in one of his traveler’s checks. After being rejected by tons of stores, he goes to a Catholic church, where he finally gets to cash his traveler’s check. John goes to buy a ticket for a Greyhound bus to Mississippi and the racist ticket teller says they can’t give him change for a $10 bill. He finally gets his ticket for the bus. Once Griffin gets on the bus, he meets Christophe. Christophe argues with a bunch of different people. All the black people on the bus give Griffin advice on what to do and how to act as an African American in Mississippi. The bus driver won’t let the black people get off and use the restroom at a rest stop. The bus eventually gets to Mississippi and John Howard Griffin calls his friend P.D. East. He stays with P.D. and later P.D. gives him one of his books to read. Griffin stays up all night reading this book.
November 15: Griffin and P.D. East discuss the manuscript for the entire day. They would take breaks and interact with East’s wife, Billie, and East’s daughter, Karen. Karen reminds John of his own daughter. East was supposed to lecture at Dillard University, but decided he didn’t want to. He was grumpy that the dean didn’t beg him to come.
November 16: Griffin and East drove to Dillard University. They met Dean Sam Grandy. P.D. drops John Howard Griffin off at Canal Street. Griffin reflects on the fact that white men believe they are inherently superior.
November 19: He arrived at Biloxi, Mississippi.

Griffin is walking from Biloxi to Mobile, Alabama, and he hitchhikes whenever the opportunity is provided to him. Griffin learns that black people are not allowed to go on beaches, however; they have to pay the gasoline tax, which is used to pay for the upkeep of the beaches. A man from Massachusetts gives Griffin a ride to Mobile. John notices that he gets rides after dark, but not any during the daylight. They were curious about the sexual life of African Americans. Griffin lectures one of the men who picks him up about the unjust treatment of black people and how black men sometimes use sex prove their manhood. John Howard Griffin believes equal education is the key to fixing the racial injustice in the South. Another man picks him up and treats Griffin as if he was any other man. He stays with an old African American man.
November 21: Griffin unsuccessfully searches for a job in Mobile. A white guy told John that the don’t want African-Americans in their state. He perceived that black people were treated like “beast of burden” in Alabama.
November 24: Griffin stays with a black family. The kids are really nice to him. This made him miss his family. John Howard Griffin was ready to end this

experiment.
November 25: In Montgomery, Alabama, the African-Americans are united under Martin Luther King Jr. The attitude of the African American population in Montgomery is hopeful, while in other cities it was more of a depressing attitude.
November 27: Griffin stays inside as much as possible so he can become white again quicker.
November 28: Griffin now looks white enough to fit into white society.
November 29: John feels like he doesn’t belong to either race anymore. He has trouble talking to white people and no longer fits in with the black community.
December 1: Griffin switches being black and white several times in this chapter. As a white man, the fellow white people treat him with kindness, while he receives hate stares from the black people. As a black man, it is the opposite. In Tuskegee, the majority of the black population is considered ‘out of city limits’ in order to keep them from voting in the elections. Tuskegee Institute, a black college, radiates an atmosphere of hard work and the appreciation of learning. Griffin meets a drunk white guy from New York. He tries to be nice to black people, but comes off as racist. John Howard Griffin gets on a bus and heads to Atlanta.
December 2: Griffin stays in a monastery. He loves the fact that there is no hatred in there. He talks to a monk about racism and he says there is no support for racism in the Bible.
December 4: Griffin stayed at a luxury hotel. The staff treated him as if he was mixed, He meets the Black Star photographer, Don Rutledge and instantly likes him.
December 7: Atlanta has made grade strides in race relations due to: black people being united under a common goal, Atlanta’s administration is sympathetic towards African-Americans, and The Atlanta Constitution is not afraid to write about race related issues. There are lots of educated and successful black men in Atlanta.
December 9: Rutledge and Griffin pretend to be complete strangers as they take pictures in order to prevent arising any suspicion from black or white bystanders.
December 14: The experiment/project is over. He feels as if he is abandoning part of his personality.
December 15 (Mansfield, Texas): John Howard Griffin flies home and has a jubilant reunion with his family.
January 2: Mr. Levitan informed John that he does not have to write the articles for Sepia if he doesn’t want. Basically, they are worried about his safety. Griffin decides to publish the article anyways.
February 26: Since Griffin is unable to find statistics and excerpts that support what it is like to be discriminated against, he decides to solely write about his experiences.
March 14: Tons of people watched Griffin’s TV interview. He did not receive any hate calls afterwards which was strange.
March 17: Time Magazine interviewed John and his mother received the first threatening call.
March 18: While Griffin is on the Dave Garroway show, Garroway tells him to answer his questions frankly. The interview is very successful.
March 23: Griffin does a bunch of interviews. He is worried about the Mike Wallace show at first, but once he converses with the guy, he feels much better.
April 1: Griffin is receiving mail, telegraphs, and calls from around the world, but nobody is contacting him in Mansfield, his home town.
April 2: An effigy of John is hung in Mansfield, which terrorizes his family. People are threatening to castrate Griffin. His family decides they should leave Mansfield until things settle down.
April 7: The Star-Telegram writes a story about the effigy and a someone burned a cross in front of an African-American school.
April 11: His family decides to return to Mansfield and they receive lots of supportive mail.
June 19, Father’s Day: Most people support what Griffin did, except the people in Mansfield. Everyone in Mansfield seems to loathe John Howard Griffin.
August 14: Griffin’s family moves to Mexico, but Griffin stays in Mansfield.
August 17: Griffin employs adolescent black kid to aid him in sprucing up his parents’ house. They confabulate about why white people hate black people. Griffin realizes that the lack of communication between the two races is a major issue.