Born 16 Jun 1920 in Dallas, Texas, United States

Ancestors

Died 9 Sep 1980 at age 60 in Fort Worth, Tarrant, Texas, United States

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Biography

John Griffin is Notable.

John Howard Griffin (June 16, 1920 ? September 9, 1980) was an American journalist and author from Texas who wrote about and championed racial equality. He is best known for his 1959 project to take coumarin drugs to darken his skin to temporarily pass as a black man and journey through the Deep South. He did this in order to see life and segregation from the other side of the color line first-hand. He published a book titled Black Like Me (1961) that was later adapted into a 1964 film of the same name. A 50th anniversary edition of the book was published in 2011 by Wings Press.

Beginning at age nineteen, he worked as a medic in the French Resistance army, evacuating Austrian Jews to the port of St. Nazaire and to safety from the Nazis. He served thirty-nine months in the United States Army Air Corps in the South Seas. He was decorated for bravery and was disabled in the fighting during World War II. He lost his sight from 1946 until 1957. During his twelve years of blindness he wrote five novels (three unpublished) and began a journal in 1950 that had reached twenty volumes at the time of his death.

Sources

• Wikidata: Item Q260879 , en:Wikipedia

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Howard_Griffin

• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/10285600/john-howard-griffin