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Black Like Me
The Definitive Griffin Estate Edition, Corrected from Original Manuscripts
The author tells of his experiences after he darkened his skin and traveled through the South in order to find out how it feels to be black.
The author tells of his experiences after he darkened his skin and traveled through the South in order to find out how it feels to be black.
Hardcover, 244 pages
Published
April 1st 2006
by Wings Press (TX)
(first published 1960)
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John Howard Griffin, a 39-year old white journalist of Sepia Magazine, changed his skin color and stayed for seven weeks in Deep South, USA among the black population. The year was 1959 prior to the Washington March and passing of the major civil rights bill in 1964.
When published in 1961, this book caused a major controversy: Mr. Griffin was persecuted by his whites by betraying their own race. Remember that at that time, Deep South states, e.g., Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and...more
When published in 1961, this book caused a major controversy: Mr. Griffin was persecuted by his whites by betraying their own race. Remember that at that time, Deep South states, e.g., Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and...more
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This book must have been unbelievably revolutionary in its day. I must admit that its original impact was lost on me at times because I expected many of Griffin's experiences as a white man disguised as a black man in 1959. He's treated poorly by white bus drivers, the hotels he stays in are substandard, he has to use separate facilites. There aren't many surprises as far as how he is treated (although there are a few).
What is surprising is how emotionally involved he gets. Within just...more
What is surprising is how emotionally involved he gets. Within just...more
booklady
rated it
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review of another edition
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review of another edition
Shelves:
2009,
adventure,
autobiography,
non-fiction,
philosophy,
psychology,
spiritual,
history,
classic,
worth-reading-over-and-over,
travel
Although John Howard Griffin was known primarily for Black Like Me and it fully deserves all five stars I’ve awarded it, I’m hard pressed to say which impressed me more—the book itself or the brief biography of the author at the end. In only sixty years (1920-1980) Griffin managed to fight in the French Resistance, lose his eyesight as a result of a nearby explosion during a Japanese air raid, become Catholic, marry and have four children and ultimately go on to become a spokesman for the Civil...more
We all claim that we know the feelings of one another. Just ask a group of healthy individuals and they will likely tell you that they know the feelings of the sick! Ask rich people and they will tell you that they know the feelings of the poor. The question is: do they really know or do they only think that they know?
In Black Like Me, John Griffin, a white journalist, sought to answer a complex question: How does it feel like to be black in America? By dyeing his skin black and trav...more
In Black Like Me, John Griffin, a white journalist, sought to answer a complex question: How does it feel like to be black in America? By dyeing his skin black and trav...more
What a brilliant anthropological/sociological study of the Black experience! Using medication and dye, John Howard Griffin, darkened his skin, and took on the role of a black man while traveling through the deep South for a month. His goal -- to learn for himself what it is like. With tremendous eloquence, Griffin conveys the despair and fear that he felt as he experienced humiliating segregation, discrimination, racism, and demeaning living conditions. He lasted little more than a month, during...more
This is a diary-like narrative by a white journalist who in 1959 takes pills and applies semi-permanent skin dye to make himself appear black, then travels around New Orleans and Mississippi as a black man. I can only imagine what an impact this book made at the time it was published. Reading this today, his experience isn't surprising or new (though this doesn't make it any less painful to read about it!).
At first I wasn't really sure why I would want to read about the experience ...more
At first I wasn't really sure why I would want to read about the experience ...more
I was ready to give this book a somewhat generous review for what may be obvious reasons, but then I read some other reviews and now I’m annoyed. It’s ridiculous to cast John Howard Griffin as some kind of hero because he was “brave enough” to “endure” the “black experience” for less than 8 weeks. Sorry, but read a book by a black American about the black American experience if that’s what you want to learn about; I suspect any would be more holistic than to cast black men and women as purely ...more
Denise
rated it
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review of another edition
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review of another edition
Recommends it for:
anyone who wants to read about different races and discrimination
This book opened my eyes to how society was before I was born. Discrimination was so severe that people were afraid to be the wrong race. I feel that I have experience discrimination when I was in high school for being Native American in a mainly "white" high school. The severity of my discrimination does not compare to the discrimination that Griffin voluntarily experienced during the time of his experiment in the Deep South. I could not believe the risks Griffin put himself against....more
I read this book many years ago but remember it making wuite an impact. I think it might have had a pivotal effect by helping many of us middle class white folk begin to understand prejudice...ours and others. I would give it a 5 but it has been way too long for me to remember how well I liked it.
I read this as a kid in Texas in the early '70s and found it absolutely riveting. I suspect the reviewers who are annoyed that Griffin is so admired are much younger. Society has changed so much in the interim, pre-multicultural life must seem comparable to the Jurassic Period. For a white man to "cross over" in the Deep South in 1959 was truly brave; remember, he didn't necessarily understand exactly how he should act with white people, which put him in danger. This in no way negates ...more
I read this book in high school and absolutely loved it. Having returned from living in Mexico for a couple of years, I can see the divide between the Hispanic community and the white community. Whenever I speak to a Mexican American, or to a Mexican person, here in the US, we quickly get beyond our cultural roots and they become the amazingly friendly, warm people I met in Mexico. Most people here in the US never get to know them this way and because of that, there are a lot of misunderstand...more
The story of the white journalist who passed as a black man. This edition included an intelligent 1977 epilogue by Griffin on how much had changed and how wide a gap yet remained between blacks and even those who fought for their rights, as well as an afterword by Robert Bonazzi. I was amazed by this book’s intelligence and perspicacity the first time I read it (1990 or so) and no less so this time. Griffin captures the essence of America’s race problems with the eye of a journalist and the d...more
I faintly remember reading this around high school age, so I guess you would call this my second reading. However, now as an adoptive parent of Ethiopian children, I read books like this in a completely different light. This intriguing story of a white journalist "posing" as a black man in the deep south in 1958 is gripping beyond words. The gamut of emotions I experienced are vast: grief, outrage, disgust, perplexity. The insight Griffin was able to bring to the table throughout t...more
Have you ever wondered what it was like for blacks to live in the Deep South in the 50s? Even if you haven’t wondered (probably especially if you haven’t wondered!), this book is for you. Griffin finally conducted a social experiment that changed the way I saw the “Negro problem,” as so many southern white citizens called it. Griffin literally dyed his skin black and lived several months in Alabama and Mississippi among other blacks; the racism he finds is deep-rooted and ubiquitous. And eve...more
This was supposed to be a true story. Because of that, I had to really focus on the fact that the main character could actually transform himself from white to black.
Although I enjoyed the read, it was challenging to fathom how much hatred and disregard there was for African Americans in that era. To hear some of the things that were said and thought about black people was a little bit to much to bear at times, but I suppose that was the whole reason for Mr. Griffin's venture...more
It was the summer I turned fourteen that I wandered into a dusty book shop in Maroubra.
The shop itself was almost hidden in a small dingy mall. The windows were grimy; a fag hung from the mouth of the shop assistant as she sat on a stool behind the counter.
Her eyes were dull, and her bored glance quickly left my face as she seemed to classify me as unworthy of any effort.
Against the wall was a table. It held the cheaper throwaways. The books no-one wants. Not ...more
The shop itself was almost hidden in a small dingy mall. The windows were grimy; a fag hung from the mouth of the shop assistant as she sat on a stool behind the counter.
Her eyes were dull, and her bored glance quickly left my face as she seemed to classify me as unworthy of any effort.
Against the wall was a table. It held the cheaper throwaways. The books no-one wants. Not ...more
All the time I see things that anger me.
And this anger is from seeing blatant hatred people propagate and revel in. They are ignorant and evil.
My words sound strong, but everytime I witness a person hating just to hate, it bothers me. So, yes, I am pro-gay rights. Anyone against this will have nothing but shame in their lives. They are on the wrong side of history.
Which brings me to the reason I am ranting like this. I have long been a student of...more
And this anger is from seeing blatant hatred people propagate and revel in. They are ignorant and evil.
My words sound strong, but everytime I witness a person hating just to hate, it bothers me. So, yes, I am pro-gay rights. Anyone against this will have nothing but shame in their lives. They are on the wrong side of history.
Which brings me to the reason I am ranting like this. I have long been a student of...more
I was born and brought up in Northern Ontario Canada...my mother made us all pancakes & I loved the pic of Aunt Jemima on the syrup...I just wanted to sit on her knee and listen to stories or whatever she would want to tell me...
The 1st time I had occasion to meet or interact with a black person...I was in the ninth grade in high school...this would have been in the late 1950's...I cannot for the life of me remember his name...but this gentleman was our English teacher...he was tall and he...more
The 1st time I had occasion to meet or interact with a black person...I was in the ninth grade in high school...this would have been in the late 1950's...I cannot for the life of me remember his name...but this gentleman was our English teacher...he was tall and he...more
Things are better but sometimes not as much as they need to be. In the book he tells of whites thinking they can ask inappropriate questions about sex. They assume blacks are animals when it comes to sex. I remember when I was working as a phlebotomist in a major hospital. I was drawing blood while a resident was getting the patients history. The patient was an older black man. The resident asked him if "he took it in the ass". I remember being shocked and thinking he would never speak...more
192 pages
1. Main Conflict: This a non-fiction book about a middle-aged white man, John Howard Griffin, who decides to undergo medical treatment to change the color of his skin and temporarily become a black man. He wants to experience what's it like to be a black man. The first place that he went was New Orleans. Griffin expects to find prejudice, oppression, and hardship, but he is shocked at the extent of it: everywhere he goes, he experiences difficulties and insults. The word "...more
1. Main Conflict: This a non-fiction book about a middle-aged white man, John Howard Griffin, who decides to undergo medical treatment to change the color of his skin and temporarily become a black man. He wants to experience what's it like to be a black man. The first place that he went was New Orleans. Griffin expects to find prejudice, oppression, and hardship, but he is shocked at the extent of it: everywhere he goes, he experiences difficulties and insults. The word "...more
Haunting, revealing, infuriating, surprising, bittersweet at times, and incredibly ballsy. And as cliched as it sounds, it really is as relevant today as it was during the days of segregation. The rhetoric used by the pro-segregation I'm-not-a-racist crowd described in Black Like Me are frighteningly in tune with that of today's "patriots". Mixing races supports communism. Mixing races supports socialism. It's against God's will. It's an attempt to remove Christianity from the pu...more
I don't exactly remember why I read this back in high school, but I saw it on the bargain shelf at the bookstore and thought I'd grab it for my sons to read.
And what a story it is
The author darkens his skin to get a sense of what life was like for a black man in the deep south circa 1959 and he finds racism. No surprise there. When you're looking for evidence of any sort of bias, you will find it. And if Griffin had found nothing he would not have had a book to write. And...more
And what a story it is
The author darkens his skin to get a sense of what life was like for a black man in the deep south circa 1959 and he finds racism. No surprise there. When you're looking for evidence of any sort of bias, you will find it. And if Griffin had found nothing he would not have had a book to write. And...more
In 1959, writer John Howard Griffin spent a few weeks in New Orleans, Louisiana; Mobile, Alabama; and parts of Mississippi, disguising himself as a black man, by temporarily darkening his skin, and cutting off his straight head of hair. He wanted to observe by being a black man how blacks were treated in the South. His compassion was emphasized when he saw how poorly he was treated by whites, particularly the older generation. He saw hatred in their eyes. They did not know him, but they did ...more
I was mandated to read this book for Law class. After all, my teacher reasoned, it's Black History Month, and as we're a predominantly (very much so) white school, he thought this was the best way to truly empathize.
It's just, it's not the story - though it is kind of dry - it's the man's writing. It feels fake. It doesn't feel earnest, like a journal should. All his entries don't give me an intimate encounter with the man, he simply narrates actions from a distance, like he's afra...more
It's just, it's not the story - though it is kind of dry - it's the man's writing. It feels fake. It doesn't feel earnest, like a journal should. All his entries don't give me an intimate encounter with the man, he simply narrates actions from a distance, like he's afra...more
I first read this book when I was in grade school. I begged my mom until she gave in while we were shopping one day. This happened at about the time I had my first African American grade school teacher, Miss Jamesetta Smith (now married) and Chicago had some kind of chaos going on that could have put Miss Smith into jeopardy coming into the school neighborhood to teach. But she was young and determined not to be scared and I loved her to death. And although she tried to be honest and frank to a ...more
My father took Griffin to the bus station in Dallas when he started h is journey. when the book came out, the Griffin family
lived with us for many weeks until the threats died down. (castration,tarring and feathering, outright murder to name a few)
since my family was mentioned inthe book, we were threatened as well. since i was a very small boy, my safety became a concern
for my parents from time to time.
when i became a mouthy teen ager i would try to take this on mysel...more
lived with us for many weeks until the threats died down. (castration,tarring and feathering, outright murder to name a few)
since my family was mentioned inthe book, we were threatened as well. since i was a very small boy, my safety became a concern
for my parents from time to time.
when i became a mouthy teen ager i would try to take this on mysel...more
As I am not regularly given to reading non fiction, the pace was a little slow for ENJOYMENT's sake, however, this was not a book written for entertainment. The experience and conclusions that Griffin puts into words are so clear (and perhaps, now, 50 years later) almost prophetic. One of the last lines of the book, "too many of the more militant leaders are preaching Negro superiority. I pray that the Negro will not miss his chance to rise to greatness, to build from the strength gained...more
Black Like Me, by John Howard Griffin, is a non fiction historical account of a man's curiousity during a time of great racisim. The story takes place in the deep south during the 50's. The author of the novel John Howard Griffin is a journalist who has a burning desire to understand racism in it's simplest form. He decides to undergo a skin color change and become a black man in the very prejudice south. I chose the book because it was the only one i could find and it was not too long. The conf...more
This is the diary of a journalist who for six weeks lived as a black man in New Orleans and Mississippi during the early 1960’s. As part of his experiment Griffin visited various establishments: chemists, cafes, retail outfits first as a white man and later as a black person. He recorded the difference in the attitude of the sales clerks who served him each time he visited these establishments. It confused and bewildered Griffin as to how the same clerks could display such contempt and hatred to...more
[These notes made in 1983:]. This remains a fundamentally disturbing book, for all that it's 20 years old, and predates the big Civil Rights movement. For we'd like to be able to say that things have changed entirely for the better, and though they have to some extent, the poverty, the hatred, the fear still remain, as is all too clear from news reports from the South. Griffin's report is highly selective, of course - he had a point to make and he made it. I would have liked to hear about some o...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
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| Black Like Me | 33 | 83 | Jan 07, 2012 08:23pm |
John Howard Griffin was an American journalist and author much of whose writing was about racial equality. A white man, he is best known for darkening his skin and journeying through Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia to experience segregation in the Deep South in 1959. He wrote about the experience in his 1961 book Black Like Me.
More about John Howard Griffin...
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“Nothing can describe the withering horror of this. You feel lost, sick at heart before such unmasked hatred, not so much because it threatens you as because it shows humans in such an inhuman light. You see a kind of insanity, something so obscene the very obscenity of it (rather than its threat) terrifies you. It was so new I could not take my eyes from the man's face. I felt like saying: "What in God's name are you doing to yourself?”
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“He who is less than just is less than man.”
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