Page 50 - 0417

2017 ‫מועד אפריל‬ - 49 - ‫ פרק שני‬- ‫ אנגלית‬

Text II (Questions 18-22)

(1) By nearly any measure, John Howard Griffin (1920-1980) led a remarkable life.
Gifted with perfect pitch, a photographic memory, and a sensitive soul, he left the
United States at the age of 15 to study music in France. There he was stunned to find
black and white students studying together and socializing, something the white

(5) teenager had never seen in his native Texas. While he was in France, World War II
broke out. Griffin joined the French Resistance and later the U.S. Army, was wounded
in action and temporarily lost his eyesight.

Back in the United States after the war, Griffin was gravely disturbed by the racial
prejudice that was rampant in the American South. He undertook a radical experiment:

(10) to try living as a black man in a segregated world. He shaved his head and turned his
skin dark using a combination of drugs, ultraviolet light, and dyes. As he later wrote,
"The transformation was total and shocking. . . . I looked in the mirror and saw nothing
of the white John Griffin's past."

So began Griffin's six-week odyssey through the southern states of Louisiana,
(15) Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. He experienced discrimination at every turn. He

was forced to sit at the back of buses and encountered "Whites Only" signs at
restaurants, on park benches, and even on water fountains. He had no access to basic
necessities that white people took for granted: a place to eat, a bathroom, a drink of
water. Despite being well educated, he could find only the most menial work. In the
(20) black communities where he stayed, Griffin found neglect and hopelessness. By the
end of his journey, he saw in his own face the same look of defeat he had seen all over
the South.

Griffin described his experiences in a 1961 book entitled Black Like Me. Although
he expected the book to be "an obscure work, of interest primarily to sociologists", it in

(25) fact generated tremendous public reaction. While many people expressed admiration
for his work, others were so hostile that Griffin and his family had to leave the United
States for several years. Nonetheless, he remained an outspoken advocate of equal
rights for black Americans and promoted dialogue between white and black
communities throughout the South.

Questions

18. An appropriate title for this text would be -

(1) John Howard Griffin: His Life and Career
(2) Black Like Me: John Howard Griffin's Unusual Journey
(3) John Howard Griffin: Equal Rights Advocate
(4) Black Like Me: A History of Discrimination in the American South

)‫© כל הזכויות שמורות למרכז ארצי לבחינות ולהערכה (ע"ר‬

.‫ בלא אישור בכתב מהמרכז הארצי לבחינות ולהערכה‬- ‫ כולה או חלקים ממנה‬- ‫ או ללמדה‬,‫אין להעתיק או להפיץ בחינה זו או קטעים ממנה בכל צורה ובכל אמצעי‬