on his journey through the Deep South were very kind and opened their hearts and homes to him. One example of this is when Griffin asked an elderly Negro where he might find lodging, the man offered to share his own bed with him. Another instance was when Griffin was stranded somewhere between Mobile and Montgomery and a black man offered him lodging at his home. The man's home was a two-room shack that housed six members of his family, but he accepted John into his home and refused any money for the trouble saying that "he'd brought more than he'd taken." In Montgomery, Alabama, Griffin decided it was time for him to reenter white society, but he also wanted to gain a knowledge of the area as a black man. So, he devised the technique of covering an area as a black and then returning the following day as a white. What he found was, as a black he would receive the "hate stare" from whites and be treated with every courtesy by the black community. As a white, it would be the exact opposite, he would get the "hate stare" from blacks and be treated wonderfully by the same people who despised him the previous day. After a few days of zigzagging across the color line, Griffin decided that he had enough material from his journal to create a book and enough experience as a black man so he reverted permanently into white society. Crossing over into the white world was unsettling to Griffin, if only because of the way he was treated by the same people who despised him previously due to his pigmentation. The sudden ability to walk into any establishment and not be refused service was also a shock after having to search for common conveniences days before. After returning to his hometown of Mansfield, Texas Griffin was not widely accepted back into the community he once knew. Many of the residents of the city were racists, therefore they considered him one of the 'niggers.' The racists even went as far as to hang G...
