Janis Ian, an American folk singer and writer, wrote the story Society’s Child. The text is an excerpt from Society’s Child – My Autobiography, published in 2009. The story is a 1st person narrative.
The story takes place in the 60’s on a stage where she was performing in Encino California, when she was suddenly attacked by a mob of angry peers who were not very happy about her song that implied tolerance for interracial relationships. Her song went against all that was believed to be right at the time. The story takes place in the 60’s, a time when race mixing between whites and black was wrong and disgusting according to the general population of that Era.
At the beginning of the story, Janis and her producer are introduced the reader, and like her, the producer Shadow Morton is an open-minded person. Which was a dangerous thing in that time, to be open minded towards interracial relationship could get someone killed back then. These were harsh times indeed.
“Nigger lover! Nigger lover! Nigger lover!” that is how it all started. It was an elderly woman who spoke the hateful words, and then everyone else joined in. Not all joined in, but enough to break Janis’ emotional barrier. “I finally stopped playing and started crying. Not wanting the audience to see me break down, I set my prized guitar on the floor and tried to calmly walk off stage. As soon as I hit the wings, I went running for the ladies’ room”. She could hear the crowd booing, hissing and cheers. She did not know which part of the crowd was doing the booing and which was applauding. One part of the crowd paid to see a young girl perform, while the other part paid good money just so they could bully Janis. And it worked for a while.
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