Black Like Me Book Report

Words: 699
Pages: 3

"Black Like Me' by John Howard Griffin is a nonfiction book that was first released in 1961. John Howard Griffin was a respectable journalist in Dallas, Texas and wanted to know what it felt like to be a black man in the South during a time with such high racial tension. He heard stories about how horrible it was to be an African American in the South but he knew he that he would never truly understand unless he became a black man. Through what sounds like some very sketchy medication and pigmentation procedures he is able to, over the course of a month or so, transition from a respected Caucasian male to what appears to be a African American. "Black Like Me" is a personal account of Griffins' journey throughout the southern states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia as a black man and how quickly a persons life was turned upside down because of an apparent change in race. The amount of work that Griffin put into this book is absolutely jaw-dropping. Griffin gave up …show more content…
The book gives a perfect perspective on what an average African American male would go through in the South that I don't think anyone of any race would understand that grew up years later. The African American was silenced and pushed to the bottom. "You take a young white boy. He can go through school and college with a real incentive. He knows he can make good money in any profession when he gets out. But can a Negro—in the South? No, I've seen many make brilliant grades in college. And yet when they come home in the summers to earn a little money, they can't get jobs according to their education or capabilities. No, they have to do the most menial work. And even when they graduate it's a long hard pull. Most take postal jobs, or preaching or teaching jobs." Hearing how hateful and judgmental people can be to someone they don't even know over something that person cannot even control really changes your perspective on