Black Like Me

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Summary: TEMPORARILY BLACK LIKE ME
Review: WEB DUBOIS PREDICTED THAT THE PROBLEM OF THE 20TH CENTURY WOULD BE THAT OF THE COLOR LINE. JOHN HOWARD GRIFFINS 20TH CENTURY AMERICAN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NON-FICTION BOOK TITLED BLACK LIKE ME IS AN IMPORTANT PIECE OF LITERATURE IF FOR NO OTHER REASON THAT IT CAPTURES THE BLACK AMERICAN EXPERIENCE AT A TIME WHEN AFRICAN AMERICANCS HAD VERY FEW OUTLETS TO EXPRESS THE DAILY DEGREDATIONS INFLICTED UPON THEM. AS IT WAS IT TOOK A COURAGEOUS AND COMMITTED WHITE PERSON TO GET THE WORD OUT ON A NATIONAL LEVEL THAT AMERICA WAS BRUTALIZING ITS BROWNER NATIVE SON. NOT THAT BLACKS WEREN'T TRYING WITH ALL THEIR MIGHT TO GET AMERICANS TO LISTEN. IT IS JUST THAT THE DOMINANT MEDIA,THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT NOR THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT GAVE A HOOT ABOUT BLACKS BEING LYNCHED,DENIED DECENT HOUSING, THE RIGHT TO VOTE,OR A DECENT EDUCATION. THE BOOK BLACK LIKE ME HAS JOHN GRIFFIN SELF INJECTING A CHEMICAL THAT CAUSES AN INCREASE IN THE MELENIN IN HIS SKIN,THUS HE BECOMES A WHITE MAN IN A BLACK SKIN. HE TRAVELS THROUGH A FEW SOUTHERN STATES AND EXPERIENCES FIRST HAND A KIND OF HELL ON EARTH. GRIFFIN GOES FROM A PRIVLEGED WHITE MAN TO A BLACK MAN DENIED ALL THE HUMAN RIGHTS YOU CAN IMAGINE. HIS PILGRIMMAGE THROUGH THE SOUTH AND ALL THE HORRIFIC THINGS HE EXPERIENCES AND OBSERVES IS A TESTIMONY TO THE IMPORTANCE OF THE WORK OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS WORKERS,BLACK, WHITE, RED AND BROWN WHO FOUGHT TO MAKE THIS COUNTRY WHAT IT PROMISES IN ITS CONSTITUTION. WHILE THE BOOK FOCUSES ON THE SOUTH, ITS WEAKNESS IS THAT IT ONLY CONCENTRATES THERE. CERTAINLY A BOOK CAN'T COVER EVERYTHING AND IT WAS AN HONEST START BUT THE READER SHOULD KNOW THAT BLACKS IN THE NORTH ALSO SUFFERED THROUGH HOUSING AND JOB DISCRIMINATION,SEGREGATED SCHOOLS AND NEIGHBORHOODS,BANK LOAN DENIALS,AND RED LINING;JUST READ A RAISIN IN THE SUN. IF YOU WANT TO SEE AMERICA THROUGH THE EYES OF A WHITE MAN WHO TEMPORARILY GAVE HIS LIFE TO LIVING AS BLACK MAN AT A TIME AND IN A PLACE WHERE THAT COULD MEAN DEATH AT THE HAND OF ANY HOT HEADED WHITE PERSON THIS BOOK IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. IT WILL CERTAINLY HOLD YOU CAPTIVE.

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Summary: Living in two diffrent worlds
Review: I found the book Black Like Me a great example of how the color of skin can change the world for a person. Griffin did a great job of keeping his accounts intact. His stories of how he travled as a black man in a white mans body display the sometimes harsh consequenses for a black man in the South. I would recommend this book for a person of either race and of any age.

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Summary: My insite
Review: This book really gave a great understanding for African Americans. I recommend this book to anyone who is racist or even just looking for a good book. I is sad how John had to move to mexico because of all this.

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Summary: Offers a unique, valuable perspective on racial issues.
Review: I read this book 20 years ago and found it to be very impactful. I have recently rediscovered it and incorporated it into my sons' homeschool program. Synopsis: The author, who is caucasion, wants to discover first-hand the experience of African Americans in the south. He finds a way to actually physically appear to be an African American. It is an essential and very enlightening book. If you haven't given too much thought to civil rights issues; this book will leave you with a new appreciation for those who experienced racism. I would recommend this book for seventh graders and adults. In my opinion, this book is truly a classic and deserves to be rediscovered!

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Summary: poignant
Review: Black like me is a journey into the depths of human emotion and prejudice. Griffin chooses under his own power to brave the hate of a world in its own and an existance that is not fit for human survival. He wishes to know how and why our society is destroying itself with inconsequential arguements. Griffin discovers that some would prefer the truth remain hidden, and that this danger and intolerance can hit quite close to home. Griffin endangered his life, and also that of his family, because he believed his experience was one that needed to be told, and his story upset a generation to enlighten the next.

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Summary: I loved the book so much.
Review: It was the best book i ever read. it was good when it came to the parts where black and whites were not treated equal and it make me feel like i was in the book. I reccommend it to everyone!

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Summary: It is a book full of facts which makes it kind of boring.
Review: The book was informative and it got the point acorss but it was a bit boring.

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Summary: A brilliant classic!
Review: I am 16 years old and needed to do a book review on a certian topic. My mum was going to give away a pile of old books that she had had ever since she was 10. I picked up Black Like Me and stated reading it. I couldn't put the book down for a second! It made me feel ashamed to be a "white" person and relise just how cruel the human race can be. I have been researching the topic and discovering many terrible things "whites" did - and still do sometimes - to native people, immigrants, even our neighbours.

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Summary: best book i ever read
Review: black like me is my all time favorite book. when i was in fifth grade, my teacher recomended it to me. ever since he gave me his copy because i like it so much, i have read the book over eight times. i have an original copy, and every time i see a copy of it, i buy it and give it as a gift. it is a wonderful work of art. being a wealthy white girl, always interested and totally apposed to slavery, this book helped me to really see how people just like me could be so vulgar, and dusgusting. i really recomend you read this book, if you have not. it is a wonderfully true story.

Rating:
Summary: Wow, a must read for anyone who loves stories
Review: Black Like Me Tyler 8-16-99

My first reactions:

Moments ago I finished the novel Black Like Me and was left with the unwavering sense of a consitency in the problem of racism all over the world. I have come to realize that while there is ignorance and while there is hatred there will always be racism. Racism is nothing that anyone is born with. Racism is instilled in a childs mind throughout his or her childhood just like manners or putting on your seatbelt when you enter a car. On the last page of the book Mr. Griffen explains the seemingly everlasting trend of racism. "Whites teach their children to call [blacks] "niggers,""(p. 159) said the negro boy that was helping out Mr. Griffen. The little boy had fallen victim to this early teachings many times and now said that "he would not even go into white neighborhoods because it sickened him to be called that."(p. 159) Today in most parts of the country we have done away with the unmerciful "hate stare" and the blatent insults that have scarred so many african-americans still alive today to tell about it. But until we teach our children to love all and to not allow hate and prejudices to become a part of them the issue of racism will still be around in many different forms.