was first published in November of 1961. It was originally written as an article describing the rise in suicide tendency among Southern Negroes. John Howard Griffin assumed that "it would be an obscure work, of interest primarily to sociologists." Historically, Griffin was the first white person to experience certain issues known only to black people. By simply darkening his pigment, he encountered a complex reality formerly unknown to him or any other white person. was written as a journal, a portrayal of Griffin's life as he experienced it ....