Analysis Of Black Like Me By John Howard Griffin

Much like social norms vary from legal norms. Social norms were the predominant force Griffin encountered throughout his research. Although legal norms played a particular part, judgment was based on the structures of mutual belief, not necessarily judicial. For example, the "whites" of the southern United States were holding the assumption that the "blacks" were sexually demented and intellectually impaired (Griffin, 1962: p. 114). The southern white majority assumed that African-Americans were so open about their sex lives that they even performed activities in the streets and in front of children. They also believed that the blacks wanted white woman sexually and that due to their lack of education all they knew was their natural instinct to reproduce. They assumed this behavior to be applicable to all African-American men. As Griffin tries to explain, he can find no inferiority amongst the blacks; "These characteristics don't spring from whiteness or blackness, but from a man's conditioning" (Griffin, 1962: p. 92).

The black race has faced many hardships throughout American history. The harsh treatment is apparent through the brutal slavery era, the Civil Rights movement, or even now where sparks of racial separation emerge in urbanized areas of Baltimore, Chicago, and Detroit. Black Americans must do something to defend their right as an equal American. “I Am Not Your Negro” argues that the black race will not thrive unless society stands up against the conventional racism that still appears in modern America. “The Other Wes Moore” argues an inspiring message that proves success is a product of one’s choices instead of one’s environment or expectations.

In Brian Copeland’s memoir, “Not a Genuine Black Man: My Life as an Outsider”, he vividly shares to what kind of racism and treatment that he and his family have gone through in a white community in San Leandro, CA during the 70’s. Through an ethnic studies lens, we can see clearly that indeed, the treatment of most Americans or “whites” toward African-American or “blacks” are hostile. There’s an invisible gap between two races, and Being an African-American

On his journey Griffin anticipates that he would experience prejudice, oppression, and hardship, but he what he wasn’t equipped to handle the magnitude of it: with every step he took, he experiences some form of racism. The word "nigger" seems to sprout out the mouth of the common man as water flows from a faucet left an echo on every street corner. In his travels to New Orleans he founded how hard it was to find a job, a nice place to eat, or even find a decent restroom for blacks. After numerous traumatic days in New Orleans, Griffin decides to continue his

In Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow, Alexander explains how racism in the U.S. has been “redesigned” in order to be written off as nearly nonexistent (Alexander, 2). Alexander goes on to

The arrival of African slaves, sold in the plantations of colonial America, definitely triggered a superior-inferior relationship and mentality between “the whites” and “the blacks”. This present-day culture, resulting from a society of masters and slaves, has struggled against central concepts deeply rooted in the nations past .With strong cultural values on racial discrimination, the path towards the concept of racism in America was a vital moment in the course of the nation’s history. Social concepts and attitudes could not be altered overnight, but it can be altered. Indeed, in the quest for social progress, the struggle for equality has gone a long way, with black Americans now holding high-ranking

Matthew Frye Jacobson’s Whiteness of a Different Color offers innovative insight into the concept of “race” and the evolution of “whiteness” throughout American history. Jacobson focuses his analysis on the instability of racial identification over time and how race has been created and perceived throughout different stages of history. He states in his introduction that “one of the tasks before the historian is to discover which racial categories are useful to whom at a given moment, and why” (p.9) and while he is successful in some respects, his analysis is somewhat incomplete in providing a full scope of the power relations that created, altered and maintained racial identities in the United States. While Jacobson offers a detailed

The discriminating social stratification in 1950’s developed a set of servile behavior on the blacks. They were thought to be inferior to whites, and were treated accordingly. Moreover, different parts of the country had various ranges of sensitivities while dealing with the blacks. For example, in Mississippi things were particularly tense after the Parker lynch case. No black man would dare look into any white man’s eyes in fear of the repercussions. On the bus, a man warned Griffin to watch himself closely until he caught onto Mississippi’s ways. In an extreme case like this, it was vital to learn about their roles and behave accordingly.

During the book, Black like Me, John Howard Griffin turned himself into a black man to experience the true discrimination of the south. His experiment is six weeks long. During these six weeks he experienced many different kinds of people in the south and how the treated black people. After he had finished his six week experiment he stopped taking the medication that turned his skin darker, which then turned him back into a white man. After all, some people dispute the fact that he actually experienced true treatment of a black man. I disagree with that that statement, because although he was only a black man for six weeks he still experienced the hardship that the black man faces every day of his life.

Often times, people say "you can 't understand another person 's experience until you walk a mile in their shoes.” When I first opened the nonfiction book Black Like Me, John Howard Griffin, I had high hopes, however it did not live up to my expectations. Griffin went through doing blackface for while, and claimed that he knew what it was like to be black, however he still does not understand what it is truly like to be a minority. Minorities are not allowed to switch their color on or off. There aren’t days where we are allowed to decide if we want to be White or Black, Mexican, or Asian. Although yes, he did experience racial discrimination and was involved in incidents that were clearly unjust, he still does not know what it 's like to be truly black. It is wrong for Griffin to be viewed as a hero for doing this, when all he did was use blackface and put paint on his face for 6 weeks. Although yes, he did bring to light what was hapening to black people at the time, giving someone a pat on the back for being a decent human being is wrong. Why isn’t a black scholar, or a black person who showed the injusticies of the time being celebrated and widely read about like Griffin? Why is that white people only listen to other white people?

That is to say, a human being will naturally be drawn towards the preservation of the self. (4) During this time period, the white man viewed the black man as a threat to the white lifestyle. As experienced through the eyes of John Howard Griffin as a black man, the white man would have many questions as to the nature of the black man. (5) Through Griffin’s experience, he learned that there is no fundamental difference in the nature of the white man as compared to the nature of the black man. There seems to be a desire to survive.

What if we could walk in each other’s shoes? What if we could truly understand what our brothers and sisters are going through? These questions and more are what John Howard Griffin strived to answer when he surgically changed his complexion to resemble that of a black man in his book, Black Like Me. He set out to write a biting commentary about the state of race in the United States, but what he experienced changed his life forever. Griffin learned two very valuable lessons that dominated his experience; good can exist in the midst of suffocating evil and to bridge the gap between races there must be mutual understanding. To analyze such a powerful book, I will start with a summary and then explain my thoughts on the text.

Griffin’s journey let him experience the discrimination against black people first hand and allowed him to empathise with them. Towards

So, Mr. Griffin had a multistage process done on his body so that the pigment of his skin would appear darker. After many treatments of ultraviolet light and tablet pills, Mr. Griffin had become a black man. After Mr. Griffin’s transformation was complete, he immersed himself into the black community. Mr. Griffin was not prepared for what would happen to him once in the black life. While Mr. Griffin traveled to different places in the south he met numerous people, both black and white. Some people were friendly while others were quite hostile.

John Howard Griffin was a writer who wanted to write about the truth. In dealing with the racial discrimination problems in the United States, Griffin wanted to write about the realities of the situation. However, he was a white man. He empathized with the black people and wanted equality for them as well however he lacked the experience and exposure to the truth. He decided that the best way to write about this was to be a part of the black community. He consulted with a doctor about making his skin darker so that he can be physically identified as a black man. His doctor was successful in providing him medicine that would make him dark-skinned.