Ray Sprigle facts for kids

Ray Sprigle (born August 14, 1886 – died December 22, 1957) was a famous journalist. He worked for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette newspaper. In 1938, he won a special award called the Pulitzer Prize. He won it for showing that a new Supreme Court judge, Hugo Black, had been part of the Ku Klux Klan.

In 1948, Sprigle went on a secret trip for a month. He traveled through the Deep South pretending to be a Black man. He wrote about his experiences, and his stories were first printed in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Later, these stories became a book called In the Land of Jim Crow.

Early Life and Education

Sprigle was born in Akron, Ohio. His family had German roots from early American settlers. He went to local schools. After his first year at Ohio State University, he left to become a newspaper reporter. He also wrote short stories for magazines.

Journalism Career

Sprigle had a long and important career in newspapers. He spent most of his time as a general reporter for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Pulitzer Prize Win

In 1938, Sprigle won the Pulitzer Prize for Reporting. He earned this award for a series of articles in the Post-Gazette. These articles proved that Hugo Black had been a member of the Ku Klux Klan in Alabama. Black had just been chosen by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to be a judge on the Supreme Court of the United States. Sprigle found strong proof, including a copy of a letter from Black. This letter, written on Klan paper, showed Black asking to leave the group.

Undercover in the South

In May 1948, when Sprigle was 61 years old, he started a secret mission. He used the name "James Crawford." For 30 days, he traveled 4,000 miles through the Deep South. He pretended to be a Black man to see what life was like. The NAACP helped him. He was joined by John Wesley Dobbs, an important 66-year-old leader from Atlanta. Dobbs was well-known and respected across the South. He introduced Sprigle to many Black communities. This allowed Sprigle to meet and interview people he never would have met otherwise.

Reporting on Segregation

When Sprigle returned to Pittsburgh, he wrote 21 powerful articles. These stories were told from his own experience. They showed white readers the unfair treatment and difficulties that 10 million Black Americans faced every day. This was because of the South's system of legal separation, known as Jim Crow. The series was on the front page of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. It was titled I Was a Negro in the South for 30 Days. The articles covered many topics, like social issues, politics, and money problems. They also showed how Black public schools were not as good as white schools. The newspaper's publisher said that no other series had ever gotten so much attention.

Sprigle's articles were shared across the country. About 15 other newspapers printed them. These included the New York Herald Tribune and The Philadelphia Inquirer. The Pittsburgh Courier, a large African American-owned newspaper, also printed them. The Pittsburgh Courier had many editions and was read widely by Black people in the South.

Sprigle's secret journalism happened more than ten years before another famous effort. Novelist John Howard Griffin did something similar to learn about daily life for a Black man in the South. Griffin dyed his skin black. His experiences became the 1961 bestseller Black Like Me.