"I Was a Negro in the South for 30 Days" - Ray Sprigle - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Reportage
Description
Ray Sprigle, a white reporter from Pittsburgh, goes undercover as a light-skinned black man in the deep south.
Reporters
Media History
The reporting was intended for these media types: Newspaper, Book, Television
Effects and Outcomes
Although the story was not reprinted in any white southern papers, Sprigle's undercover series sparked a national media debate about the Jim Crow laws and captured considerable attention north and south of the Mason-Dixon line. The Delta-Times in Greenville, MI, wrote a reply to the series, "The Other Side of Jim Crow." The author of that piece, Hodding Carter III, then debated Sprigle on the issue of racial segregation on a national TV program. The next year, Sprigle published his findings in a book called "In the Land of Jim Crow," which did not sell well.
Articles, Books, Video/Film
I-"I Was a Negro in the South for 30 Days" - Ray Sprigle - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | 'I Traveled, Ate, Black'
August 9, 1948
The first article in Sprigle's series focuses on his travel methods, lack of detection, and reliance on a "guide" to ...II-"I Was a Negro in the South for 30 Days" - Ray Sprigle - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | Acquiring a Negro Appearance
August 10, 1948
Sprigle discusses the methods he tried in order to disguise himself as African American, eventually settling on ...IIII-"I Was a Negro in the South for 30 Days" - Ray Sprigle - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | Going South by Jim Crow Car
August 11, 1948
Sprigle's first experience under cover as an African American is the Jim Crow bus ride down south.IV-"I Was a Negro in the South for 30 Days" - Ray Sprigle - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | A Discussion in a Pleasant Negro Home
August 12, 1948
Sprigle learns about the everyday rules one's required to know when in the south and BlackV-"I Was a Negro in the South for 30 Days" - Ray Sprigle - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | A Woman Tells How Her Husband Died
August 13, 1948
A woman discusses the racially-charged murder of her husband.VII-"I Was a Negro in the South for 30 Days" - Ray Sprigle - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | What It Means to Be a Share-Cropper
August 16, 1948
Sprigle talks to Georgia sharecroppersVI-"I Was a Negro in the South for 30 Days" - Ray Sprigle - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | Beginning a Trip Into The Rack Country
August 16, 1948
Sprigle makes his way into sharecropping countryVIII-"I Was a Negro in the South for 30 Days" - Ray Sprigle - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | Two Negroes Who Have Earned Their Way
August 17, 1948
In a "tough" county, Sprigle examines what it means for its black residents to try to register to vote.IX-"I Was a Negro in the South for 30 Days" - Ray Sprigle - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | Jim-Crow Is Kicked In the Pants
August 18, 1948
Undercover as a black man, Sprigle attends the Georgia State Republican convention.X-"I Was a Negro in the South for 30 Days" - Ray Sprigle - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | A Soldier Who Came Home to Die
August 19, 1948
Sprigle tells a story of the consequences of voting in the south while black, heard while he himself was traveling ...XI-"I Was a Negro in the South for 30 Days" - Ray Sprigle - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | A Most Successful Negro Farmer
August 20, 1948
The author, undercover as a black man in the South, meets Dave Jackson, a successful black farmer.XII-"I Was a Negro in the South for 30 Days" - Ray Sprigle - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | Negro Doctors Treat White Patients
August 21, 1948
Sprigle encounters some of the more acutely absurd aspects of Jim Crow laws in the segregated South.XIII-"I Was a Negro in the South for 30 Days" - Ray Sprigle - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | A Visit to a Jim Crow School
August 23, 1948
Sprigle finds that education is certainly separate, but anything but equal, in the rural deep south.XIV-"I Was a Negro in the South for 30 Days" - Ray Sprigle - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | Feudalism Lives on In the Delta
August 24, 1948
Sprigle visits the sharecropping farms of the Mississippi Delta, in disguise as a black man.XV-"I Was a Negro in the South for 30 Days" - Ray Sprigle - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | A Marble Monument To Cruelty
August 25, 1948
Sprigle tries to disprove that southern hospitals will not admit black patients under any circumstances, even if it ...XVI-"I Was a Negro in the South for 30 Days" - Ray Sprigle - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
August 26, 1948
Sprigle visits a school district where 90% of the land is owned by (and 90% of the taxes are paid by) African ...XVII-"I Was a Negro in the South for 30 Days" - Ray Sprigle - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | Atlantic Ocean for White Folks Only
August 27, 1948
Sprigle finds that Jim Crow laws also apply to swimming in the ocean, and that not all states provide access for ...XVIII-"I Was a Negro in the South for 30 Days" - Ray Sprigle - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | A Leaf out of the Jim Crow Book
August 28, 1948
Sprigle finds an African American man who has made substantial wealth by exploiting the bigotry of the Jim Crow south.XIX-"I Was a Negro in the South for 30 Days" - Ray Sprigle - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | Atlanta Is the Black Capital of U.S.
August 30, 1948
Sprigle, disguised as a black man, visits Atlanta, and finds its reputation for relative tolerance to be overstated.XX-"I Was a Negro in the South for 30 Days" - Ray Sprigle - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | Does the Negro Hate The White Man?
August 31, 1948
Sprigle, disguised as a black man, talks to southern black community leaders about voting rights and education reformXXI-"I Was a Negro in the South for 30 Days" - Ray Sprigle - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | What Does the Negro Really Want?
September 1, 1948
Sprigle finishes his time undercover as a black man in the south, and pleads with his audience to seek reform.Ray Sprigle's "In the Land of Jim Crow"
1949Introduction | Sprigle's secret journey
August 9, 1998
An introduction to the series written for the Post-Gazette's republication of the series in 1998, for the 50th ...