Black Like Me

by John Howard Griffin

This is the story of a man who changed his skin. In the late 1950's John Griffin, a white journalist, stained his skin dark brown and traveled into the deep south to experience racism firsthand. He was shocked at what he found. Being educated and well-spoken did not help him find employment or be treated with courtesy from white people. On the contrary, he was often treated despicably by them, and many white men defended to him with complete candor and confidence their racist attitudes. He encountered prejudice, anger, fear and mistrust- on the part of both black and white people, towards each other. He was also recipient of compassion and acts of kindness from his fellow men... and returned to his own home months later a changed man. Black Like Me is a very moving account, one that still makes an impression on me just as it did when I first read it back in high school (not as an assignment).

Rating: 4/5               200 pages, 1960

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