ne. During his stay in New Orleans, blacks were forced to use specific facilities designated for them and they were usually few and far between. Other than the Greyhound station or other public buildings that blacks were allowed to enter, there were no facilities that were at par with the ones the whites had access to. His now black skin also prevented him from entering any store and purchasing something to drink, instead he would have to find a Negro Cafe. These Cafes were not nearly as numerous as the many places the lowliest white could acquire a drink. The color of his skin also prevented him from gaining anything other than menial labor job, although his qualifications could easily get him any number of positions if he were white. ". . . I walked toward Brennan's, one of New Orleans' famed restaurants . . . I stopped to study the menu . . . realizing that a few days earlier I could have gone in an ordered anything on the menu. But now, though I was the same person with the same appetite . . . appreciation . . . and wallet, no power on earth could get me inside this place for a meal. I recalled hearing some Negro say, 'You can live here all your life, but you'll never get inside one of the great restaurants except as a kitchen boy.'" The above passage represents just one of many instances where he was barred from entering an establishment solely based on his pigmentation. As stated before, Negroes were not permitted to enter many restaurants, but libraries, museums, concert halls, and other culturally enhancing places were also barred to him even though there was no formal law against them entering. The many stereotypes of blacks being intellectually inferior just made it easier to deny them access because they did not have the mental capacities to appreciate it. It became apparent to Griffin that because the black population was widely uneducated, they would never be able to succeed in life. One of the thi...
