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Title: Black Like Me
Author: John Howard Griffin
Genre: Non-Fiction
Copyright: 1976
Publisher: Penguin Books USA Inc.
Pages: 176
Obtained: EKFC Library
Black Like Me is a non-fiction book written by John Howard Griffin about what a black, middle-aged man has to go through every day in the Deep South. To find out what it is like to be a Negro, Griffin changes his skin color to that of a black. During his experiences, Griffin keeps a journal and that is what this book is. Black Like Me is a journal of Griffin's feelings, experiences, pains, and friends.
The setting of Black Like Me is intensely important. The setting starts out on October 28, 1959 in Mansfield, Texas. The setting in Black Like Me is so important because if the setting is any other place than the Southern United States then the plot is completely different. If the setting is in the north, then the issue of racism is not known. It is the south that is dealing with problems of racism. The setting changes a few times due to Griffins moving so much. The setting later moves to New Orleans, Louisiana and then on to Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Griffin then travels to Mobile, Alabama and from Mobile to Montgomery, Alabama. From there, Griffin moves to Tuskegee, Alabama and then on to Auburn, Alabama which leads Griffin to Atlanta, Georgia. Griffin travels to New Orleans, Louisiana and finally, to the hometown of Mansfield, Texas. With each different city which Griffin travels to there are different problems, which Griffin must face. In the first city, Griffin's problems are mild but as time goes on and Griffin travels deeper and deeper into the south, the problems become more in-depth. The problems in the cities range from as small as having colored/white bathrooms to a white mob nearly killing a Negro. At one point in Black Like Me, a problem on a bus traveling to Hattiesburg, Alabama arises. At a rest stop on the way to Hattiesburg, the bus driver lets all of the whites off but refuses to let the Negroes off. Here is a quote from the scene: 'I stood on the bottom step, waiting. The driver turned back to me. "Where do you think you're going?" he asked, his heavy cheeks quivering with each word. "I'd like to go to the restroom." I smiled and moved to step down. He tightened his grip on the door facings and shouldered in close to block me.
The stories that the author told were very insightful to what life was like for an African American living in the south during this time period. First the author pointed out how differently blacks and whites lived. She stated “They owned the whole damn town. The majority of whites had it made in the shade. Living on easy street, they inhabited grand houses ranging from turn-of-the-century clapboards to historics”(pg 35). The blacks in the town didn’t live in these grand homes, they worked in them. Even in today’s time I can drive around, and look at the differences between the living conditions in the areas that are dominated by whites, and the areas that are dominated by blacks. Racial inequalities are still very prevalent In today’s society.
One examples is, even before his surgery was complete and he had not made the full transition from white to black yet, he was startled at what he heard from his doctor. At the time of his surgery, he spoke with the dermatologist who was changing his skin color, and found out that even this man had prejudices over black people. The doctor was insistent that the “lighter-skinned Negroes” were more ethical and more sensible than the darker-skinned ones. This man, with a high intellectual IQ and much schooling, also claimed that, as a whole group and race, blacks are always violent. Griffin, horrified that he let this man be in charge of his operation, was utterly and completely appalled that a liberal man could indulge in such hateful fallacies. Not only before and during his surgery does Griffin find himself being appalled by white people, but also during his time as a black man in the south he experienced many harsh and unfriendly situations, he never would have experienced if he was a white man. For example, on his first day as a black man he goes into a drugstore forgetting his skin color and that he now, since he is black, he forbidden from ordering a fountain drink, but after a few mean and disgusted looks from the white workers he realizes, he wasn’t even allowed in the store. His first day hit him hard when he figured out that everywhere he went whites seemed to look at him with suspicion and hostility. Also, after having the word nigger seem to never escape his ears its implications almost became unbearable. Hearing this really made me think about all of the black people in the south that have had to put up this and even worse things every day of their lives and how strong they all were; a white man has been through this one day and can barely take it; how have these people put up with this for so
Richard Wright "Whenever I thought of the essential bleakness of black life in America, I knew that Negroes had never been allowed to catch the full spirit of Western civilization, that they lived somehow in it but not of it. And when I brooded upon the cultural barrenness of black life, I wondered if clean, positive tenderness, love, honor, loyalty, and the capacity to remember were native to man. I asked myself if these human qualities were not fostered, won, struggled and suffered for, preserved in ritual from one generation to another." This passage written in Black Boy, the autobiography of Richard Wright, shows the disadvantages of Black people in the 1930's. A man of many words, Richard Wright is the father of the modern American black novel.
In ‘How it feels to be colored me’ Neale Hurston opens up to her pride and identity as an African-American. Hurston uses a wide variety of imagery, diction using figurative language freely with metaphors. Her tone is bordering controversial using local lingo.
Black Boy, which was written by Richard Wright, is an autobiography of his upbringing and of all of the trouble he encountered while growing up. Black Boy is full of drama that will sometimes make the reader laugh and other times make the reader cry. Black Boy is most known for its appeals to emotions, which will keep the reader on the edge of his/her seat. In Black Boy Richard talks about his social acceptance and identity and how it affected him. In Black Boy, Richard’s diction showed his social acceptance and his imagery showed his identity.
Black Like Me is the incredibly interesting story of John Griffin, a Caucasian man who decided to try being African American in the south during the 60s. In this analysis paper I will be addressing the ethics of this project, his potential self-deception, his ability to pass unnoticed as an imposter, along with his courage for attempting such a dangerous project in the Deep South. His project was a success and a remarkable accomplishment for such an individual.
During the early 1900’s, the time period in which the story took place, racism was rampant throughout the entire nation. While African Americans technically were equal by law, they were anything but, in action. Laws such as “separate but equal” were used to justify blatant discrimination, laws that were coined as “Jim Crow Laws.” (Wikipedia, Jim Crow Laws) Jim Crow Laws were local and state laws that were used to “legally” discriminate and segregate African Americans. Perhaps the most well-known Jim Crow law of that time was “separate but equal,” a law that opened up the gates to decades of racial tension and discrimination.
America has a lot to own up to, importing slaves, selling slaves killing and torturing slaves. Alabama is just one of those places in America that used to support that before we all had equal rights. In To Kill A Mockingbird, Tom Robinson was convicted of rape, did he do it, certainly no but because he was colored he was accused of and guilty. In the novel, we go back to a time where racial inequality played a great part in history. Whites had more power over blacks and it stayed that way. Mrs. Dubose, a main character loved throwing the ‘”N” word on the table all of the time, a young lady and her father a nigger-lovers just because they didn’t mind colors. Scout asks Atticus a question, “Atticus, what exactly is a nigger-lover?” Atticus’s face was grave. “Has someone been calling you that?” Scout retorts with, “No sir, Mrs. Dubose calls you that. She warms up every afternoon call you that. Francis called ...
I grew up in the city of Birmingham, Alabama. I was born there December 11, 1947. Most of the memories I have of growing up there are the most painful memories that I have, which is strong racism and living in every day fright. I remember not being able to drink out of the cleaner water fountains around town; they were for the white people. The water fountains that were available to us were few, far between and very filthy. The black people were treated like dogs in Birmingham. I remember having to enter of the all stores and restaurants in town through the back entrances. One place I remember so vividly was a restaurant called Stadium Grill. We ordered food there every week while we were doing the wash across the street at the Laundromat. We enter in the back door into a very tiny poorly lit room. There were no tables or chairs for us to sit and eat there, it wasn’t allowed. There was only a small window to which we placed our orders and left. The front of the restaurant was large; it had tables with real cloth coverings and beautiful flowers sitting in the middle of the tables. I never once stepped foot inside the front of that restaurant. The way our communities were much different than they are now. Black people were not allowed to live among the white people. The white people lived in big lavish homes on the far east side of town and the blacks lived on the west side of town in small run down homes. There was, however, one subdivision that the wealthier black families lived. The name of it was the Goldwire Area and even now it never compares to the homes in which the poverty stricken families live now.
While Jim Crow dominated the social landscape of the South for much of the 20th century, formal segregation and acts of racism also existed in the North during this time. Blacks who moved to the North in the Great Migration after the First World War might have been able to live without the same degree of oppression experienced in the South, however the elements of racism and discrimination still existed. Despite the work by abolitionist, life for free blacks was still harsh because of northern racism. Most free blacks lived in overpopulated ghettoes in the major Northern cities such New York, Boston, and Philadelphia. In the Philadelphia Negro, W.E.B Dubois’ does a social study on race, and uncovers many social problems that plagued African
“In 1943, indicates separate facilities for black customers at a bus station in Rome. Segregation of blacks and whites became a common occurrence in the South with the rise of Jim Crow laws in the 1890s. In the 1890s, Georgia and other southern states passed a wide variety of Jim Crow laws that mandated racial segregation or separation in public facilities and effectively codified the region's tradition of white supremacy” (Hatfield, 2013). Segregation -which means to be separate but equal – was one way the south avoided blacks’ rights. Some examples are: they weren’t permitted to go to the same schools. Colored children had to go to certain schools even if there was a white school down the road. Another example is blacks’ had to use different restrooms and different drinking fountains. Here’s another example: they also had to go to certain restaurants and stores. In the summer most of the places blacks had to go to weren’t air conditioned. They couldn’t even ride in the same railroad car as white people. They weren’t even allowed to be buried where a white person was buried. Blacks’ weren’t permitted to marry a white person. Black children weren’t even permitted to have the same textbooks as white children. The textbooks were not interchangeable, the school that had the book first got to keep it. Colored children had to go to certain schools even if a white school is just down the road. Another way the south avoided b...
I was late for school, and my father had to walk me in to class so that my teacher would know the reason for my tardiness. My dad opened the door to my classroom, and there was a hush of silence. Everyone's eyes were fixed on my father and me. He told the teacher why I was late, gave me a kiss goodbye and left for work. As I sat down at my seat, all of my so-called friends called me names and teased me. The students teased me not because I was late, but because my father was black. They were too young to understand. All of this time, they thought that I was white, because I had fare skin like them, therefore I had to be white. Growing up having a white mother and a black father was tough. To some people, being black and white is a contradiction in itself. People thought that I had to be one or the other, but not both. I thought that I was fine the way I was. But like myself, Shelby Steele was stuck in between two opposite forces of his double bind. He was black and middle class, both having significant roles in his life. "Race, he insisted, blurred class distinctions among blacks. If you were black, you were just black and that was that" (Steele 211).
Being African American in the 1930’s, how free you were was determined by the half you lived in - the North or South. In that time period there was a significant amount of racism, segregation, and prejudice occurring. However, racism was on a whole different level in the South than it was in the North of the United States. In the North colored people had rights like freedom of speech, but in the South they had no rights. In the book To Kill A Mockingbird the author, Harper Lee, did a wonderful job of vividly portraying how Negro’s lived in the South, particularly in the state of Mississippi in Maycomb county. In the society of Maycomb white folk hated the blacks. For many people racism changed their life dramatically. The grass really was greener on the other side for colored folks - the North. For Calpurnia, Tom Robinson, and Mr. Dolphus Raymond racism dramatically affected their lifestyle.
“Black Like Me” written by John Howard Griffin is an excellently written novel, based on factual events experienced by the author himself. It is based in the 1950s, a time when racism was widespread throughout America. The basic outline of the story is the following of one man (Griffin) as he embarks on a journey that takes him to the ‘other side’. Griffin is a middle-aged white man, and decides to personally experience the life of a Negro. He achieves this by literally changing the pigmentation in his skin so that he is no longer white. Griffin moves to the deep southern states of America where he is subject to harsh racist treatment by the whites. By doing so, he experiences first hand the reality of racism and prejudice, almost to the point of disbelief. The story focuses on the lives of Negroes: restricted, brutal and harsh. “My skin was dark. That was sufficient reason for them to deny me those rights and freedoms without whi...
In southern place of Rural Georgia there were racial issues. Walker discuss stereotypes that Celie went through as the daughter of a successful store owner, which ran by a white man Celie did not have no right to. The black characters and community were stereotyped through their lives to have human rights (Walker 88-89). Walker engages the struggle between blacks and whites social class, blacks were poor and the whites were rich. This captures the deep roots of the south discrimination against blacks. African-American women went through misery, and pain of racism to be discriminated by the color of their skin. Another major racist issue Hurston represent in “The Color Purple” is when Sofia tells the mayors wife saying “hell no” about her children working for her, Sofia was beaten for striking back to a white man (Walker 87). Racism and discrimination in the black culture did not have basic rights as the whites instead they suffered from being mistreated to losing moral