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"Put him in a black skin"... (Original Post) sheshe2 Yesterday OP
A very mature and wise young student. Wonder what life had in store for her/ him Deuxcents Yesterday #1
Outstanding response! brer cat Yesterday #2
wow DoBW Yesterday #3
It's only one sentence, but it speaks volumes. anciano Yesterday #4
No Kidding!!! calimary Yesterday #9
What a Sweetheart ... Clearly a Cha Yesterday #5
FWIW, Google AI couldn't identify the student, or give their correct gender. TheRickles Yesterday #7
I'm sure all those "intelligent agents" couldn't identify Hitler's racial makeup or his gender either. erronis Yesterday #8
Yeesh, I just thought it would be interesting to learn more about whoever came up with that brilliant quote. TheRickles Yesterday #12
Sorry. I tend to get carried away on the enshittification of the internet. erronis Yesterday #14
Got it. No worries - all is forgiven. :-) TheRickles Yesterday #16
See my post #21 IronLionZion Yesterday #22
Oh dear.. now what? Cha Yesterday #10
Appears DU dweller Yesterday #26
Boy or girl? colorado_ufo 13 hrs ago #32
Powerful maveric Yesterday #6
We should do that with everyone swong19104 Yesterday #11
this sounds a lil too good to be true tbh, mainly because of the utter lack of correlating evidence WhiskeyGrinder Yesterday #13
This message was self-deleted by its author anciano Yesterday #17
Today some have the attitude "Hey we don't need to see the trees because we see a forest." . . . nt Bernardo de La Paz Yesterday #18
I don't need made-up stories to know that living in a white supremacy hurts Black people. WhiskeyGrinder Yesterday #20
It's from a book called "Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents" by Isabel Wilkerson IronLionZion Yesterday #21
What is from the book? WhiskeyGrinder Yesterday #23
The story in the OP IronLionZion Yesterday #24
Does the book name the child who wrote this essay, the school where they studied, who sponsored the contest? WhiskeyGrinder Yesterday #25
Is the identity or even the verity of the anecdote the most important point here? Ilikepurple Yesterday #28
I've found a different source referenced. Wiz Imp Yesterday #29
Since that book is 1944 and the OP story says 1944 IronLionZion 11 hrs ago #38
Agreed Wiz Imp 11 hrs ago #39
If you have not read Wilkerson's Caste, it is well worth reading. Lonestarblue 12 hrs ago #37
... littlemissmartypants Yesterday #15
Ouch. Iggo Yesterday #19
Great idea LetMyPeopleVote Yesterday #27
As a young teen I read Black Like Me. multigraincracker Yesterday #30
As did I. sheshe2 Yesterday #31
Required reading as a Freshman. sop 13 hrs ago #33
He needs to live the story, not ban it. multigraincracker 13 hrs ago #35
Do that Rebl2 13 hrs ago #34
Do it to TSF's whole cabinet tikka 12 hrs ago #36

erronis

(21,754 posts)
8. I'm sure all those "intelligent agents" couldn't identify Hitler's racial makeup or his gender either.
Tue Oct 28, 2025, 08:23 PM
Yesterday

I don't actually G.A.S. what google or other engines cough up from their intestines. They are trained on so much garbage in that actual historical facts (if known) are submerged in the effluvium of crap.

TheRickles

(3,027 posts)
12. Yeesh, I just thought it would be interesting to learn more about whoever came up with that brilliant quote.
Tue Oct 28, 2025, 08:52 PM
Yesterday

I wasn't trying to make any grand political or philosophical statement about AI or Google or anything else.

erronis

(21,754 posts)
14. Sorry. I tend to get carried away on the enshittification of the internet.
Tue Oct 28, 2025, 09:06 PM
Yesterday

I appreciate totally your research!

IronLionZion

(50,200 posts)
22. See my post #21
Tue Oct 28, 2025, 09:45 PM
Yesterday

it's from a book. There's also a movie about the author's travels researching the content for the book.

swong19104

(547 posts)
11. We should do that with everyone
Tue Oct 28, 2025, 08:45 PM
Yesterday

in the present administration. Starting with Miller.

Hey Miller, at least your bald head will be "colored".

WhiskeyGrinder

(25,914 posts)
13. this sounds a lil too good to be true tbh, mainly because of the utter lack of correlating evidence
Tue Oct 28, 2025, 08:55 PM
Yesterday

Response to WhiskeyGrinder (Reply #13)

Bernardo de La Paz

(59,864 posts)
18. Today some have the attitude "Hey we don't need to see the trees because we see a forest." . . . nt
Tue Oct 28, 2025, 09:26 PM
Yesterday

WhiskeyGrinder

(25,914 posts)
20. I don't need made-up stories to know that living in a white supremacy hurts Black people.
Tue Oct 28, 2025, 09:31 PM
Yesterday

IronLionZion

(50,200 posts)
21. It's from a book called "Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents" by Isabel Wilkerson
Tue Oct 28, 2025, 09:42 PM
Yesterday
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caste:_The_Origins_of_Our_Discontents

It was adapted into a film called Origin, which shows how she conducted her research for the book
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_(film)

WhiskeyGrinder

(25,914 posts)
25. Does the book name the child who wrote this essay, the school where they studied, who sponsored the contest?
Tue Oct 28, 2025, 09:55 PM
Yesterday

Or is it just a repetition of this anecdote?

Ilikepurple

(344 posts)
28. Is the identity or even the verity of the anecdote the most important point here?
Tue Oct 28, 2025, 10:08 PM
Yesterday

I’m failing to understand why this statement needs to be verified to a degree not seemingly required from most posts. Is it because it’s found in a meme? That involves an insightful idea from a young black American in the 40s? I agree that the truth of the matter is often important, but what seems to be more important is the message of the idea. There is some reason your default position is skepticism even after someone cites a book published by Random House and I hope it’s just that you have a strong bias against information by meme.

Wiz Imp

(7,821 posts)
29. I've found a different source referenced.
Tue Oct 28, 2025, 10:34 PM
Yesterday

Either way, I see no reason to question the veracity of the claim in general.

https://gehayi.tumblr.com/post/170390081086/in-1944-a-sixteen-year-old-black-student-in

The line is a slightly altered version of one from A Nation of Nations (1944) by Louis Adamic. Dan Shiffman quotes it in Rooting Multiculturalism: The Work of Louis Adamic:

“Perhaps Adamic’s most memorable reference [to the progress and ongoing exclusion African-Americans faced in WWII] comes early in the chapter and sets the tone for the rest of his discussion: ‘In the spring of 1944 a sixteen-year-old girl in Columbus, Ohio won a high school essay contest on “What to do with Hitler after the War” by writing a single sentence: “Put him in a black skin and let him live the rest of his life in America.”

But a significant point is that she won the contest.‘

So not only was the student black, but a black girl. Most of the re-quotes of Adamic omit that fact.

IronLionZion

(50,200 posts)
38. Since that book is 1944 and the OP story says 1944
Wed Oct 29, 2025, 12:30 PM
11 hrs ago

there's a good chance it actually happened considering the historical conditions at that time.

Lonestarblue

(13,045 posts)
37. If you have not read Wilkerson's Caste, it is well worth reading.
Wed Oct 29, 2025, 11:23 AM
12 hrs ago

She also wrote The Warmth of Other Suns, a history of the migration of black people from the South. Hers’s the Amazon short description:

“In this beautifully written masterwork, Pulitzer Prize–winning author Isabel Wilkerson presents a definitive and dramatic account of one of the great untold stories of American history: the Great Migration of six million Black citizens who fled the South for the North and West in search of a better life, from World War I to 1970.”

multigraincracker

(36,593 posts)
30. As a young teen I read Black Like Me.
Tue Oct 28, 2025, 10:58 PM
Yesterday

That was over 60 years ago and what I learned from it has stuck.

sop

(16,653 posts)
33. Required reading as a Freshman.
Wed Oct 29, 2025, 10:36 AM
13 hrs ago

It was banned in Florida high schools by DeSantis and his band of book burners, probably in other states as well.

Rebl2

(17,138 posts)
34. Do that
Wed Oct 29, 2025, 10:39 AM
13 hrs ago

with Steve Miller, the one who I believe is really ruining the country.
I meant to say running the country, not ruining. Actually, both words fit.

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