Black Like Me
(John Howard Griffin)
Black Like Me
By John Howard Griffin
This story, while published 43 years ago, is still as much a poignant, unforgiving look at race relations in the pre-Civil Rights Era south (and the beginnings of the era in some locales), as there ever was. Told from the point of view of a skeptical white man it addresses the setting in a new light.
Griffin, begins his story by undergoing a medical treatment that would give him the appearance of being African American in what was then the 1950s. Believing that while racism existed it was vastly exaggerated, he set out to prove just that. It is in the mist of trying to prove such that Griffin finds himself struggling for his life, his livelihood, and ultimately his sanity. Unfortunately he would only acquire two of the three.
In his race relations as an African American he found that often he was attacked without provocation, spat on, and had racial epithets hurled at him. He found other African Americans to be welcoming, warm and sympathetic. His story is told in a very unique point of view in that these acts were unexpected, and as such, told in a more powerful light than any African American of that time could have done so. Set in the form of a journal, the reader has the opportunity to travel day by day with him and tour of the southern states of Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and Georgia. Through this diary he made us feel what it was like to look for a colored bathroom, or a colored water fountain. He made us feel like we needed to get out of Mississippi right now, he made us feel his danger. His danger was that of being an African American who was expected to know the rules but did not. His danger was that of a displaced man. His danger was real.
It is easy to see why this book is a classic. Told with numbing truth, simplicity and clarity, the reader is forced to see things the way Griffin has been forced to see things. This book is definitely a journey worth taking.
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