Morgan C. Atkinson Documentary Interviews: Uncommon Vision, The Life and Times of John Howard Griffin
Project Summary
John Howard Griffin is best known as the white man who, in 1959 at the height of U.S. racial discrimination, disguised himself as a black man and traveled anonymously through the racially divided heart of Dixie. From his experiences, he wrote “Black Like Me”, a groundbreaking best seller that stands as a testament to Griffin’s moral commitment and a document of one of the more extraordinary events of the Civil Rights era. “Uncommon Vision” focuses on Griffin’s social activism but also examines how a spiritual commitment led him from a segregated childhood in Fort Worth to fighting with the French Underground, sustained him during ten years of blindness incurred by war injuries and fed him during a prolific creative life as writer/photographer. It’s an inspiring, entertaining and edifying story. Studs Terkel, one of the great chroniclers of 20th century American culture and a frequent interviewer of Griffin said, “John Howard Griffin was one of the most remarkable people I have ever encountered. He was just one of those guys that comes along once or twice in a century and lifts the hearts of the rest of us.”Project Code
mcauv