Black Like Me
This book is an autobiographical diary of John Howard Griffin, a white journalist from Texas, who undergoes medical treatment to temporarily color his skin black, so that he can understand what it is like to be a Negro in a land of racial segregation. It is a journal of the authors personal experiences living as a Negro. For six weeks the author from Texas, hitchhikes orwalks, takes a bus or trudges the streets of four other Southern states of Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and Georgia, all of which treat the Negroes as tenth class citizens.The author of the book. He is a sensitive white journalist. The whole bookis a shocking account of his personal experiences, when he transforms himself temporarily into a Negro for six weeks. During this period, he suffers raw hate and violence, crudity and inhumanity, from the He sets out on a personal quest to discover what it is really like to be a Negro. He experiences how, many freedoms and rights that he enjoyed as a privileged white are now forbidden to him. This is a grim and bitter eye-opener for him. In addition, he encounters many racial
CONFLICT Climax The climax of the book is reached when some white racists of the authors hometown hang his effigy on the main street, burn a cross at the local Negro school, and threaten to castrate him. For quite some time now, the author is haunted by a particular idea; what would it be like, if a white man became a Negro in the Deep South. This is very painful for the author's family and he is finally forced to flee America for security to Mexico. How he is denied the very basics of life like food, water, rest, shelter, toilet. Racists, who will then haunt and hound innocent whites, in retaliation for what they (Negroes) have suffered for centuries. NOVEMBER 2, 1959 In this entry in the diary, the author gives a detailed account of how he goes about finding a dermatologist, who will help him in carrying out his plan. Both warn him against the dangers of the project, but Griffin is not deterred. The author gives the dermatologist his case history and the former decides the line of treatment after consulting his colleagues. NOVEMBER 1, 1959 The author arrives in New Orleans to begin his experiment in transforming himself into a Negro. Outcome The book ends tragically, with the ominous fear that the blood, sweat and tears the Negroes have suffered at the hands of the vicious and venomous white racists, will force ever increasing numbers of innocent Negroes towards becoming black racists themselves. He wants to probe the cause for this and he realizes that he can only do so, if he himself becomes a Negro and personally experiences discrimination based on skin color. He tells them that he will truthfully tell people his name and identity and then see if they treat him the same, or as a nameless Negro. One memorable Negro character is Sterling Williams, the authors first contact in the Negro community.
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Acceptance Essays
