lynching of silas hoskins, burning thread that can be drawn through pctically all his works from unclere silas is lynched in fact, to the long dream at the end of his life where in a town in mississippi, there's also a story of lynching. incredibly, my father never spoke about lynchings to m he left me to discover that pect of wh is called the american nightre, by myself. and i thk him for it bause i think he was wise. he realized i was not prepared for it. he waited until 1959 when his friend martin luther kg visited him in paris on his way to india, and ent -- they spent th day together. nody knows what they talked about because they closed the office doors and ty talked and they talked and they talked. but at one point, my father called me -- i was 17 years old -- and he introduced me to this small light-skinned man. and he looked so miliar to me. i could not place him. and my father said, "this is martin's working, jr.." and my father turned to mark luther king and said, "martin, i want you to do what we spoke about." and martin open his shirt and showed me the recent scar of his s