Black like Me - John Howard Griffin

Black Like Me

John Howard Griffin was a journalist and a specialist on

race issues. After publication, he became a leading

advocate in the Civil Rights Movement and did much to

promote awareness of the racial situations and pass

legislature. He was middle aged and living in Mansfield,

Texas at the time of publication in 1960. His desire to

know if Southern whites were racist against the Negro

population of the Deep South, or if they really judged

people based on the individual's personality as they said

they prompted him to cross the color line and write Black

Like Me. Since communication between the white and African

American races did not exist, neither race really knew what

it was like for the other. Due to this, Griffin felt the

only way to know the truth was to become a black man and

travel through the South. His trip was financed by the

internationally distributed Negro magazine Sepia in

exchange for the right to print excerpts from the finished

product. After three weeks in the Deep South as a black man

John Howard Griffin produced a 188-page journal covering

his transition into the black race, his travels and

experiences in the South, the shift back into white

society, and the reaction of those he knew prior his

experonce the book was published and released.

John Howard Griffin began this novel as a white man on

October 28, 1959 and became a black man (with the help of a

noted dermatologist) on November 7. He entered black

society in New Orleans through his contact Sterling, a shoe

shine boy that he had met in the days prior to the

medication taking full effect. Griffin stayed with Sterling

at the shine stand for a few days to become assimilated

into the society and to learn more about the attitude and

mindset of the common black man. After one week of trying

to find work other than menial labor, he left to travel

throughout the Southern states of Mississippi, Alabama, and

Texas.

November 14, the day he decided to leave, was the day after the Mississippi jury refused to indict or consider the evidence in the Mack Parker kidnap-lynch murder case. He

decided to go into the heart of Mississippi, the Southern

state most feared by blacks of that time, just to see if it

really did have the "wonderful relationship" with their

Negroes that they said they did. What he found in

Hattiesburg was tension in the state so apparent and thick

that it scared him to death. One of the reasons for this

could be attributed to the Parker case decision because the

trial took place not far from Hattiesburg. He knew it was a

threat to his life if he remained because he was not a true

Negro and did not know the proper way to conduct himself in

the present situation. Griffin requested that one of his

friends help him leave the state as soon as possible. P.D.

East, Griffin's friend, was more than willing to help his

friend out of the dangerous situation that he had gotten

himself into and back to New Orleans.

From New Orleans, traveled to Biloxi, Mississippi and began

hitch hiking toward Mobile, Alabama. Griffin found that men

would not pick him up in the day nearly as often as they

would at night. One of the reasons being that the darkness

of night is a protection of sorts and the white men would

let their defenses down. Also, they would not have to be

afraid of someone they knew seeing them with a Negro in

their car. But the main reason was of the stereotypes many

of these men had of Negroes, that they were more sexually

active, knew more about sex, had larger genitalia, and

fewer morals and therefore would discuss these things with

them. Many of the whites that offered Griffin rides would

become angry and let him out when he would not discuss his

sex life with them. One man was amazed to find a Negro who

spoke intelligently and tried to explain the fallacies

behind the stereotypes and what the problem with Negro

society was.

Many Negroes he encountered on his journey through the Deep

South were very kind and opened their hearts and homes to

him. One example of this is when Griffin asked an elderly

Negro where he might find lodging, the man offered to share