Expository Essay: Black Like Me By John Howard Griffin

For example, Robert E. Lee Ewell, considered white trash, is an abusive, racist man who lives in despair and

Black Like Me is an incredible journey into what life was like in the Deep South during the late 1950s. John Griffin performed a social experiment to see what was life really like for blacks in the Southern States. John Griffin transformed himself into a black man and recorded his experiences into a book, Black Like Me.

begins to understand that in society he is just a black man and that in itself debilitates him.

In Black Like Me, John Griffin chronicles the events during his experiment in the black South. Having lived all of his life as a white male, arguably the most privileged demographic at the time, Griffin decides to go undercover as a black man using special medication and skin darkening techniques. He develops valuable insight, but there was no way he could have come close to have fully lived as a black man in the South. However, the experiment itself was not in itself foolish.

Showing that he is the same as a white man, that all of mankind is virtually the same.”

African-Americans have been subjected to racial injustices for ages due to their skin color, especially in the south. African-Americans can barely offer a home, let alone food for their families due to the obstacles whites have created. In the 1960’s Martin Luther King Jr. and others took action to stop the racial bigotry that African-Americans were undergoing this is important because Martin Luther King Jr. plays a big role in creating movements that help African-Americans and is talked about in both books. Although some blame the government for allowing the court to alter laws that oppress African-Americans, discriminatory whites are more at fault because they are the ones invoking and presenting them to the court. The nonfiction book “The

In the book Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin he wants to experience what African America people have to encounter on a daily basis. Griffin explains, “If a white man became a Negro in the Deep South, what adjustments would he have to make?” (Griffin 1960, 1). Here Griffin explains that if a white man were to become a color person many whites wouldn’t believe in his beliefs of his experiment because he wouldn’t go through the same thing that the colored people go through. With the experiment that Griffin goes through he not only convinces people that the Southern legislators don’t have that “wonderfully harmonious relationship” (Griffin 1960, 1). With the African American people but instead have a completely different view towards the African American.

book “Black Like Me.”The book is a journal he kept during the time of civil rights from

he won't change his ways." In other words, while he knowingly married a black woman, he acts

Black Like Me is an autobiography written by John Howard Griffin; the book takes place during 1959, when racism and segregation were very much prominent. Griffin has it all; he is a white male with a stable job and a loving and supportive family. He was willing to leave all of that behind for some time, in order to partake in an experiment. He partnered with the founder of the Negro magazine, Sepia, George Levitan in order to meticulously achieve this experiment that required embodying a Negro and witnessing “How the other half lives”. He arrives at New Orleans to undergo his full transformation. Griffin finds a dermatologist that will assist him in changing his physical appearance to that of a Negro. Griffin is put under ultraviolet rays and

1. Identify one character in the film that demonstrated poor teamwork skills. Describe the situation.

In the book Black Like Me, the three main themes that John Howard Griffin stress are identity, race, and white supremacy. The story begins with a naïve Griffin deciding to pose as a black man in the Deep South to study the living conditions, civil rights, and overall life of black people in the late 1950s. He does this as a black man instead of a white one to get the truth out of black people and not the censored version they usually give and to witness it firsthand. Griffin originally underestimates the oppression of black people, but he will soon find out the harsh realities of black racism and inequality.

could trust and confide in, when in fact they a deeply racist and against him.

I have the exact same feeling about the subject I was taught and just always felt that aside from race, gender, and religion we are all humans and deserve to be treated equally. His characteristics are positive and humble which I aspire to be like him because of the things he went through in his past it only made him stronger in the end and when it comes to him talking about his experiences he is positive and when it comes to him dealing with his success and money he is humble and those are great qualities to have.

"There was something about him that made me wary, a little too sure of himself, maybe. And white". This is during the time when he describes a job interview with a man in Chicago. It seemed that race had been a part of their discussion as the white had a certain air about himself seeing Obama being a black, but instead of getting de motivated and upset about the behavior from the white Obama took it as an opportunity and showed what his true talent was. And at the end he was able to win the person, which was one of his many passions.