I cannot remember if it is in his autobiography, but somewhere there is the story of Lomax trying to locate Son House in Mississippi, and he makes the mistake of saying, Mr. Son House, and they nearly ran him out of town. He was treading, always in that era, this fine line -- we are talking about a white man thinking that criminal and near criminal black people might have something to offer. In 1939. I think, in a weird way, that only someone like Lomax could have got away with what he did -- so maybe the Lord had use for his Southern manners, condescension and all.

yours, Peter T.