Black Like Me Book Report
Sept. 10, 2011
Black Like Me (Second Edition) By John Howard Griffin 1960
In the late 1950’s John Griffin, a white journalist and specialist on race issues from Texas, made the decision to experience the racial south as a black man in order to help him more understand the suicide rates. John documented his life changing experience first-hand as a Negro and the discrimination based on skin color.
After an agreement with Sephia magazine to fund the project in exchange for the right to print experts from the book, although they felt John was putting himself in a dangerous situation, John told his wife that he would change his skin color and travel the South. John first arrived in New Orleans and while staying at a white friend’s house he begins …show more content…
What he found was, as a black he would receive the "hate stare" from whites and be treated with every courtesy by the blacks. As a white man, it would be the exact opposite, he would get the "hate stare" from blacks and be treated wonderfully by the same people who despised him the previous day. After a few days of zigzagging across the color line, Griffin decided that he had enough material from his journal to create a book and enough experience as a black man so he reverted permanently into white society. Crossing over into the white world was unsettling to him, if only because of the way he was treated by the same people who despised him previously due to his pigmentation. The sudden ability to walk into any establishment and not be refused service was also a shock after having to search for common conveniences days …show more content…
Instead, there were daily quests to find rest-room facilities, restaurants, stores, and various other 'conveniences' that he took advantage of before he crossed the color line. During his stay in New Orleans, blacks were forced to use specific facilities designated for them and they were usually few and far between. Other than the Greyhound station or other public buildings that blacks were allowed to enter, there were no facilities that were at par with the ones the whites had access to. The color of skin also prevented blacks from getting a good job, although the same qualifications could easily get them a number of positions if they were white. The many stereotypes of blacks being intellectually inferior just made it easier to deny them access because they did not have the mental capacities to appreciate it.The black population was widely uneducated; they would never be able to succeed in life. One of the things inhibiting their education was the poor quality of schools and the inability to enter establishments such as libraries and
Black Like Me (Second Edition) By John Howard Griffin 1960
In the late 1950’s John Griffin, a white journalist and specialist on race issues from Texas, made the decision to experience the racial south as a black man in order to help him more understand the suicide rates. John documented his life changing experience first-hand as a Negro and the discrimination based on skin color.
After an agreement with Sephia magazine to fund the project in exchange for the right to print experts from the book, although they felt John was putting himself in a dangerous situation, John told his wife that he would change his skin color and travel the South. John first arrived in New Orleans and while staying at a white friend’s house he begins …show more content…
What he found was, as a black he would receive the "hate stare" from whites and be treated with every courtesy by the blacks. As a white man, it would be the exact opposite, he would get the "hate stare" from blacks and be treated wonderfully by the same people who despised him the previous day. After a few days of zigzagging across the color line, Griffin decided that he had enough material from his journal to create a book and enough experience as a black man so he reverted permanently into white society. Crossing over into the white world was unsettling to him, if only because of the way he was treated by the same people who despised him previously due to his pigmentation. The sudden ability to walk into any establishment and not be refused service was also a shock after having to search for common conveniences days …show more content…
Instead, there were daily quests to find rest-room facilities, restaurants, stores, and various other 'conveniences' that he took advantage of before he crossed the color line. During his stay in New Orleans, blacks were forced to use specific facilities designated for them and they were usually few and far between. Other than the Greyhound station or other public buildings that blacks were allowed to enter, there were no facilities that were at par with the ones the whites had access to. The color of skin also prevented blacks from getting a good job, although the same qualifications could easily get them a number of positions if they were white. The many stereotypes of blacks being intellectually inferior just made it easier to deny them access because they did not have the mental capacities to appreciate it.The black population was widely uneducated; they would never be able to succeed in life. One of the things inhibiting their education was the poor quality of schools and the inability to enter establishments such as libraries and