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Summary: I remember when this book first came out
Review: What a sensation Black Like Me caused when it was first released, back in the 60s, I think. I was in college, and everyone was suddenly reading it. The fact that it's still in print and selling at #3000 on Amazon is a testament to the universal appeal and underlying message of JH Griffin's book.
Here's the deal: in the 50s, the author was a journalist in the Deep South, and decided to experience the life of a black man by crossing the color line. He took medication that darkened his skin and exchanged his live as a privileged white man for the world of an unemployed black man. Black Like Me is his eyewitness history about race and humanity - and ultimately humility.
Should be read by every thinking person in the country. I just put it into the hands of my 19yo son and said, "Read this."
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Summary: Classic Book on Southern Views of African Americans
Review: Black Like Me is an incredible true story. The author, John Howard Griffin, conducted an experiment in which he found out what it was like to be a black man living in the south in the 1950's. Griffin went through some medical procedures to turn his skin color from white to black, and traveled to the south with no plans but to examine the day-to-day life of an African American, and to keep records of his experiences. Griffin's experiences are educational and very shocking. I read about aspects of African-American life that I never even would fathom. For instance, Griffin often saw examples of African Americans who obviously despised their God-given skin color, and this was evident through the choices they made and the ways they treated other blacks. The accounts were so real that I was scared to think that parts of our country, namely the Deep South, were so corrupt only fifty years ago. Also, it was riveting to read the comparison between how the same people without knowledge of Griffin's experiment would treat him first as a white, then a black. The "African American Griffin", if you will, was treated with complete hatred and contempt from the majority of the whites he associated with. Griffin also became a target by white supremacists once they found out what he had done, calling him a traitor against whites. Not only was Griffin's experiment was just as physically exigent as it was mentally. Griffin was constantly under an immense amount of stress in the mental power struggle between whites and blacks at the time. I would recommend this book for anyone readers interested in African American literature. This book was definitely an eye-opener for me and was an incredible depiction of Southern America's views on African Americans in that era.
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Summary: Black Like Me Review
Review: John Griffin takes a big step in braking the barrier between the blacks and the whites. He put his life on the line in an attempt to bring the two races together. What Griffin learned quick as a black man was, "An important part of my daily life was spent searching for the basic things that all whites take for granted: a place to eat, or somewhere to find a drink of water, a rest room, somewhere to wash my hands." When a white person is using the rest room or washing their hands, they never think about how hard this is for a black man. Another thing that the white people do not realize is how hurtful their stares are, and how much those stares say. Griffin learned that the color of his skin was the only thing that made a difference.
John Griffin formatted this book in the form of a day to day journal. This helped show a day in the life of a black man. Black Like Me showed what it was like in different areas of the Deep South, and how actions changed in different areas. This book was a lot different from other books about the Deep South because the author experienced it from both sides. Not only did John Griffin's skin color change, he was also changed on the inside. One thing that makes this book even more startling is that he could have been killed in this whole process.
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Summary: Black Like Me is Good
Review: I read Black Like Me for an American Literature class at my boarding school and really enjoyed it. The reason I picked this book was because the very concept caught me and interested me and I had not heard of something like this before, so I chose it to find out exactly what it was like. The topic was interesting, which right away can account for a good book but that is clearly not the only reason that I thought that Black Like Me was good. John Howard Griffin, the author, Narrator, and main character of the book goes further than most people would even think to go, especially for someone in his period of time. After the publication of the contents of Black Like Me Jack was terrorized by people who called him a 'traitor to the white race'. John Howard Griffin is a writer who decides that the best way to show people that there is heavy racism is to experience it for himself and then report on it. So he does, at probably the most dangerous time period to do so, and with permission from some magazine people undergoes a process to become black and then travels throughout the south, experiencing black life.
The part that sets Black Like Me apart from other novels like it is some of the points it makes clear to the reader. The most noticable of which to me was the idea that no matter how aware a person thinks that they are in regards to racism in the south, they will never even begin to fathom such a horrible experience unless they go through it themselves. And the reader comes to notice that even while John Howard Griffin is a black southerner he cannot completely understand the pain that black southerners experienced as a result of racism. From the start of the book Griffin at least aknowledges the existence of racism in the south and even believes that he might have a grasp on what it would be like to be a black person living in the south. But what he finds is what makes this book interesting, the things Griffin experiences just as result of the change of pigmentation in his skin are startling and shocking and provoke some pretty startling revelations. I would probably reccomend Black Like Me to any one who thinks they know what happened in the south in regards to african americans, and I also would reccomend it to anyone who has any doubts as to what kinds of horrors african americans experienced in the south. People who read this book will probably need somewhat of a sence of empathy in order to be able to understand this book, and the people that need this book the most would probably not care or not understand that any of the events in this book should not have occurred, so this book's purpose may be long lost. This book will probably change the way you look at life and increase your respect for other people.
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Summary: Black Like Me
Review: Black Like Me is a great book to read. It described life in 1959,
when blacks had no happiness and little freedom. Life was like prison, but a prison for life that blacks couldn't leave. This is shown by John Howard Griffin who went through a medical transformation that turned his skin color black. The outcome shocked him and me. I felt the pain of his mistreatment, and the shame he went through. The people that he knew gave him no respect as a black man. For example when Griffin went back to his hometown New Orleans, he went to a restaurant that he ate there all the time as a white man, but now that his black they won't even lit him use the restrooms. This book is one of the best books I ever read; it will show you that one man wanted to see what it is like to be a black man in the Deep South. Griffin had to live the life of a black man, and be what whites thought he should be. This book is GREAT, you should read it.
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Summary: A Classic Revisited
Review: I first read this book in 1965 as a junior in high school. As a white man, it seared my conscience then, as a naive 17 year old and again as a "worldly" 55 year old. Mr. Griffin's book will remain a timeless classic and a primer for we who are not of color as we try to gain some understanding on life for those who are people of color. I believe that reading this first in 1965 made me a better man and able to at least attempt to stamp out tired stereotypes in my own heart. I am certain it helped me look upon ALL humankind as worthy of my kindness on an equal level. May God help me continue this as I live out my life. I wish the lessons of this book might be learned by all and appreciated. The world would be a better place!
Rating: 
Summary: Eh, its alright.
Review: First of all I was in disbelief before reading this book about how a man could make himself look black, and then actually pass as black man. Especially if he was some upper class white man. Anyway, they use some kind of a chemical or drug to turn him black, which still seems odd to me, and then finally a shoe polish-like substance. This book did not impress me. It is comprised of semi-interesting stories from the daily life of a white man who is mistaken for a black. AND GUESS WHAT HAPPENS, he gets discriminated against, has to live in the ghetto and eat gross food. Big surprise. I remember the ending as being abrupt and unsatisfying also. This is a good book for anyone who doesn't realise that blacks were, and are still, second class citizens. But anyone who doesn't know that already is probably unlikely to pick up the book anyway.
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Summary: To be black in the south
Review: Journalist John Howard Griffin changed the color of his skin to see what life in the deep south was like for a black man in the pre-civil rights era. There are 100 other reviews here, so I will bring up 2 points I think others missed, as not to repeat the conversation.
1: I would have like to see more discussion, perhaps in the epilogue or prologue, on the medication and ointments that Griffin used. How could these products be safe! Where there after effects?
2. Sometimes the book comes across as an endorsement of Catholicism. Griffin often argues that blacks were more accepted in his view in Catholic communities in America. Although I disagree with this argument, as evidenced by Catholic communities in New York and Boston.
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Summary: Black Like Me
Review: Black Like Me is a powerful, startling book that shows the severity of the discrimination that the Blacks went through living in America in 1959. John Howard Griffin, the narrator and author, who goes through multiple procedures to become a Black man, writes the book in a form of his diary entries as he lives like a Black man-oppressed and categorized.
To me, this book is more than it seems. Although short, it delivers messages that are deep and inspiring. As I read, I realized the extent of the prejudices were much more severe than what I have been taught. Griffin's writing is emotional and thought provoking. He tells you what he is seeing and what he is feeling so fluently and detailed that you forget you're reading a book and you feel as if someone is reciting a poem or maybe just speaking to you.
Black Like Me is a book that should be read by all not only for the controversy, but for the historical value it possesses.
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Summary: A Real Eye Opener
Review: I had to read this book for school and I have to say it has become one of my top 5 favorite books. This book will change your life forever, after reading it you will view many issues, racial or otherwise, differently. I really like the way John Howard Griffin writes with an almost neutral slant. This book is very respectable, John Howard Griffin tells it like it is, not adding anything of his own opinion unless otherwise telling the reader, so you know when your reading his comments and when you're reading what happened. I would highly recommend this book to anyone. It should be read by everyone.
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