Analysis Of Black Like Me

John Howard Griffin, the author of Black Like Me, writes an autobiographical account what he passed through for a period of about 10 months. Howard has an idea that has been haunting him for a long duration of time; he wondered the various kinds of life changes that a white man would need to be labeled a Negro in the southern region of the United States. Howard wanted to acquire first hand information of the daily experiences of the African Americans in the Deep South. Black Like Me offers an account of the bad and good things that Howard went through because of the vivid makeover from being white to being black. This paper reviews John Howard Griffin’s Black like me, the paper provides a summary of the book,

It took bravery and courage for John Howard Griffin to literally step into the shoes of not only another man’s life, but an entirely different race’s life. John Howard Griffin, a white middle-aged man with a wife and three children, put his entire life on hold to pursue the truth about racial indifferences. In 1962, Black Like Me won the Anisfield-Wolf Award (Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards). The Anisfield-Wolf Award is an award that honors American literary works that recognize racial and cultural differences. John Howard Griffin’s documentation of his personal experience crossing the color line is a story that will give perspective every man and woman regardless of the color of their skin.

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).

James Weldon Johnson author of The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man discusses the issue of race and identity in his short story. Writing in first person Johnson follows the unnamed protagonist from childhood up to adulthood, he demonstrates in different areas how this unnamed man handles his identity and his race as colored. The fact that he remains nameless throughout the story shows more of the connection between identity and race. During the course of the story Johnson’s protagonist makes the argument that identity is highly based upon the race of the individual. His journey from adolescence to adulthood as a colored man seems to play a keen role in the jobs he makes and the people he interacts with, ultimately defining his identity based on his race.

John Howard Griffin, the author and main character of “Black Like Me”, is a middle-aged white man who is living in Mansfield, Texas in 1959. Deeply devoted to the finding justice for racism and frustrated by his inability as a white man to understand the black experience, Griffin decides to take stand: he decides to change the color of his skin and temporarily become a black man. After securing the support of his wife and of George Levitan, the editor of a black-oriented magazine called Sepia which will fund Griffin 's experience in return for an article about it, Griffin sets out for New Orleans to begin his life as a black man. He finds a contact in the black community, a soft-spoken, articulate shoe-shiner named Sterling Williams, Eventually, Griffin looks in the mirror and sees a black man looking back. He briefly panics, feeling that he has lost his identity, and then he sets out to explore the black community.

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 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.

Griffin wants to know what life is like for a Negro in the South. Griffin knows it would be difficult for a white man to truly experience and understand what life is like for a black man; so, Griffin darkens his skin in order to experience life in the South as a black man would.

His mother or aunt or teacher long ago carefully prepared him, explaining that he as an individual can live in dignity, even though he as a Negro cannot. “They don’t do it to you because you’re Johnny—they don’t even know you. They do it against your Negro-ness.”” This quote, originally stated in Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin on page 45, implies how African-Americans were looked at during this particular time; inferior. African-Americans were treated like they were no more human being than the white folks. This book was great not because of the storyline, but because of the reason behind its publication.

Black Like Me In the Fall of 1959, John Howard Griffin set out on a journey of discovery. A discovery of his own nature, as well as a discovery of human nature. With the help of a friend, Griffin transformed his white male body into that of an African-American male body. Through a series of medical treatments, the transformation was complete.

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.

Imagine being an outcast or an alien from a different galaxy that had to settle on Earth. It’s unbearable having the constant feeling of not belonging in this world because you are different; however, having no other choice but to be strong and overcome it is an even more difficult thing to do. The unsettling feeling of not being accepted for who you are, and the strength needed to overcome it is represented in the essays, “How to Tame a Wild Tongue”, by Gloria Anzaldúa, and “How It Feels to Be The Colored Me” by Zora Neale Hurston. Though they are not based on aliens from another galaxy, these two texts are based on two strong women who were alienated from society because of their backgrounds. Though they give

Black Like Me is about a white male, John Howard Griffin, who was disheartened by how blacks were being treated. In an effort to bridge the gap between blacks and whites Mr. Griffin conducted research on blacks. Because Mr. Griffin is a white man the black community would not speak to him truthfully. Blacks were afraid that whites would harm them if they said anything offensive. Mr. Griffin knew the dilemma so he came up with the idea to become a black man in order to receive the truthful response he desired. Mr. Griffin knew that if he became a black man he would lose all his “white rights.” However Mr. Griffin still continued with his idea.

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.