Black Like Me Thesis

“One hundred years later the life of the Negro is still badly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later the Negro is still languished in the comers of American society and find himself in exile in his own land.” (King 1963). August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr, stood at a podium gathered around Lincoln Memorial, in Washington DC by thousands of civil right marchers. King’s sixteen-minute speech gave marchers the greatest impact during the Civil Rights movement. The civil rights movement during 1954-1968 was a time of despair for the Negros, thinking they would never
He asked about the size of Negro genitalia and the details of the Negro sex life.” (Griffin 87). Many Southern white men believe that blacks are not capable of moral refinement, fidelity, or propriety, and that as a result they are mindlessly sexual creatures. This leads many white men, who might be extremely moral in white society, to question black men shamelessly about their sexual experiences, and even to press them for information about where they can find a black girl to sleep with. These men are implying that blacks are so “amoral” that they will not even understand that these questions are unusual and discriminating. Of course, the black men would be punished for getting mixed up with a white woman, but a white man can use a black woman anyway they want and not be punished. Therefore, any Negro is punished for their wrong doings and a white man gets to live a free life for doing the same
Whether a Negro is a Negro for days, weeks, or permanently, the racism and discrimination is stained to their soul like the stain. It can be scrubbed away and rinsed off, but a little bit of it will always be there, until their freedom is established. The life of a Negro in 1959, was rough and full of despair and many couldn’t understand it; John Howard Griffin had trouble living it for weeks at a time. Arguably, I can state that I do not believe that the critique is accurate or ever will be, because of the racial remarks and discrimination he experienced throughout his journey exploring the “deep south” as a Negro