He quickly recognized the squalor and destitution Blacks were forced into by the white patriarchal system which had insisted to outsiders that “the Negroes” were treated fairly and compassionately. Then after sharing his plans with a few contacts at the Black-oriented Sepia magazine, he slipped into his new guise, infiltrating Black communities across Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi for a month while undercover. Through a series of treatments involving skin-darkening medications and ultraviolet light, Griffin changed his skin color, shaved off his straight hair, and stained patches betraying his Caucasian complexion. At the time, however, his investigative journalism published in the Black magazine Sepia and later a book, Black Like Me, was heralded for validating Black Southerners’ claims of harassment and injustice on many levels. John Howard Griffin sought to learn the truth about the Deep South’s racist culture, going undercover in a manner that, today, could be interpreted as comical or offensive. oject to the Dean and his beautiful wife.In November 1959, a World War II veteran turned writer embarked on one of the most unusual and provocative social experiments of the 20th century.
“But you told me you were simply too busy,” Gandy laughed. launched into bitter complaints, wanting to know why Dean Gandy had not insisted he give the lecture today.
The Dean, a handsome, cultivated man of great wit, had just returned from a trip. He stopped deep in the campus at the cottages provided for the faculty and we went in to meet Dean Sam Gandy. cursed these richly and made the typical “Southern white” remarks about “Did you ever see such a damn beautiful campus for a bunch of nigras.
We drove through slowly, of necessity, since the campus drives have cement ridges every forty or fifty feet that would cause your car to bump badly if any speed were attempted. A green, spacious campus with white buildings, great trees streaming Spanish moss. took me to Dillard University, one of the two Negro universities in New Orleans.
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