IN THE LAND OF JIM CROW

New York: Simon & Schuster, 1949. First printing. Very good in a very good minus jacket.. First edition of this Pulitzer Prize-winning white journalist's accounts of his travels in the summer of 1948 through the Deep South, representing himself as a Black man and reporting on the discrimination and oppression he experienced. Sprigle's project was made possible by the guidance and companionship of civil rights activist John Wesley Dobbs - referred to only as a "friend" in the text and not publicly identified until 1973. Dobbs was introduced to the author by Walter White, then director of the NAACP. While undercover for the NAACP, White had traveled extensively in the region while passing as a white man - a considerably riskier and braver feat, as Sprigle notes. Sprigle's book predated John Howard Griffin's similar BLACK LIKE ME by more than a decade, and unlike Griffin, Sprigle did not rely on modification of his appearance beyond a suntan. He discusses in some detail the degree to which his successful impersonation relied on the arcane and elaborately coded American system of racial classification. Sprigle's expose was primarily written for a white audience accustomed to believing white writers. Within this context, his pioneering reports (which originally appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) came as a revelation and shock to many Northerners, with a far-reaching and lingering impact. Uncommon in its first edition, especially in a jacket and in collectible condition. 8" x 5.25" Original red cloth. Black topstain. In original unclipped dust jacket ($2.50) designed by Leo Manso. Foreword by Margaret Halsey. 215 pages. Jacket spine faded, chipping to edges, with some rubbing and toning. Book lightly shelfworn at extremities, especially spine tips. Overall, clean and sound. (Inventory #: 52974)