Black Like Me, John Howard Griffin, Signet, 1961, 176 pp
I
don't read much non-fiction for My Big Fat Reading Project. When I do, I
choose books that give me the sense of living amidst the times or that
fill in parts of history I never fully learned. Black Like Me gave me a great deal of insight into what life was like for southern Blacks in the early years of the Civil Rights struggle.
The
premise is almost unbelievable. A white journalist from Texas, by means
of medication and dyes, turns himself into a Negro and spends time with
other Negroes in various towns: New Orleans, small towns in Mississippi
and Alabama, Atlanta.
Griffin may have invented immersive journalism. He had a contract for the story with a magazine called Sepia and as far as I can tell, his experiences were the real deal.
He
discovered that though he already believed racism to be a terrible
thing, white people really had no idea what it was like to be a Negro,
especially in the South. He could enter a drug store and make a
purchase, but could not sit at the counter to eat. Negroes could only
eat at Negro cafes. He could not even get a drink of water and often had
to walk many blocks to find a restroom he could use.
Worst
of all was what he came to call "the hate stare." The constant
degradation got to him so much that there were times when he felt
insane.
It
is a moving story and goes far to explain the complex barrier Black
people in America have to overcome to gain rights that are inalienable
according to our Constitution. Once Griffin's article came out he became
an overnight celebrity in the North but was so reviled and threatened
in his home town that he moved his family to Mexico to protect their
lives.
This is a short book, well written, and should be read by every American citizen.
(Black Like Me is available in paperback on the Classics shelves at Once Upon A Time Bookstore.)
Wow! Griffin certainly did risk a lot to tell his story. I agree that everyone should read it. I'm pretty sure that I could come up with a nice long list of people who should probably be forced to give that experiment a try, and they should consider themselves lucky that they'd have to do it in our "amazingly enlightened" times.
ReplyDeleteHa! You are truly evil! But right of course.
ReplyDelete