Black Like Me

Rating:
Summary: A True Experience
Review: Black Like Me delineates the experience of John Howard Griffin, a white writer who specialized in race issues, who desperately wanted to know what it was like to be an African-American in the Deep South in order to experience discrimination based on skin color, something over which one has no control. In 1959, Griffin risked everything, including his career, his family, and his reputation. With the support of an African-American magazine and the help of dermatologists, he took medication that darkened his skin to a deep brown. He changed nothing but the color of his skin, and witnessed on a first-hand account what it was like to be a Negro. He began his journey in New Orleans and was shocked to discover how the whites treated him like scum, and all African-Americans treated him like their brother. He immediately found that he had to walk across town just to find a café that would serve him food and water, or that he would have to walk around a building in order to find a "colored" bathroom that he could use. Despite his education and qualifications, he had trouble finding a job. He traveled all throughout the Deep South, stopping in Alabama and Mississippi, which made New Orleans seem like the North. He began to feel like he had truly become an African-American, and felt bitter towards the Southern whites. His experience completely opened his eyes to what the real definition of racism is, and he hoped that his book would do the same for millions of people throughout the world. Black Like Me is John Howard Griffin's attempt to reveal the truth about discrimination and racism, and in my opinion that is exactly what it did. I recommend this book to those readers who usually can't stay interested in a book. You will not want to put this one down.

Rating:
Summary: The "Hate Stare"
Review: Black Like Me showed the plight and injustice done to African Americans as I never saw it before. John Howard Griffin made me realize how much discrimination a person can go through just because of the pigment of his or her skin. He made me realize that the "colored people" were oppressed to the point where they couldn't trust anyone of the white race. Griffin makes it clear of how it felt being denied things others take for granted, such as getting a cup of water or even the privilege of using the bathroom. His honesty is what I enjoyed the most in reading this novel. The way he describes how it feels to be given the "hate stare" made me feel as if I felt the anger and frustration that had boiled from within so many others. It's hard to understand how the mere sight of a person's color could repulse others so violently. However, Griffin doesn't try to cover up the "evils" of American society. He doesn't try to defend the actions of his white counterparts either because he suffered the same injustices that only the colored could understand. Unlike other books, Black Like Me has given me a different perspective. His experience made me see a part of America that I could have never imagined existed until now. It saddened and shocked me of how inhumane humans can treat one another. It also saddens me that this racial inequality is still prevalent in today's society, although not to the same extent.

Rating:
Summary: the best book
Review: John Howard Griffin's Black Like Me is the best book that I have read in years. I admire his nerve for being so gutsy. He now knows what we dark skinned people have been putting up with for 400 years. I learned something valuable: The white people were more afraid of their friends, peers and family members than they were the dark-skinned people. He took a risk of losing his health to feel what we have always felt.

I admire him for his courage and compassion for the love he had for others.This book is a great book. It describes the way a white man feels when he switches from having a normal life in the late 1950's to being a black man in racist situations. It has an important lesson along with this book: it says that blacks in the 1950's should have been treated with the same respect that white men were. White men picked on the blacks, not letting them even share the same restroom, simply because they didn't think they're skin was the right color. This is a story about a man who discovers that color isn't an object to place racism on, and that people can get along when there's no prejudice.This book recounts one of the most exciting sociological experiments of the 20th century. The Caucasian author undergoes chemical and physical changes to appear as an African American, to document the bias and social injustices of the white American society from personal experience.

Rating:
Summary: I am not a reader
Review: Well I don't read that many books because they don't hold my interest even slightly. But, this book actually had me engulfed in it.

Rating:
Summary: A complete, concise summary of John Howard¿s Black Like Me
Review: What better way to discover what it is like to be someone than to become them? This is exactly what John Griffin did in 1959. John was a writer for an African-American magazine, Sepia, who wanted to discover what it was like to be an African-American in the Deep South. By medication and ultraviolet rays he turned his skin a rich brown so he could pass for an African-American. He decided he would not change his name, the way he talked or the way he dressed and with two hundred dollars and a duffle of close he was off to New Orleans. John immediately was amazed at how only the change in his skin color made him hated by whites but in the same way it made him loved by African-Americans. He traveled through the south looking for a job. Normally a well-dressed, educated man would have no trouble finding a job but that's far from the truth if you're an African-American living in the Deep South. After three months he had more than enough and could not stand that quality of life any longer. He changed his skin tone back to the old milky white went back to his home in Texas. Here he would encounter the same hate that he did as an African-American. Now simply changing his skin color cannot free him from this hatred. Black Like Me is a definite must read. It is an eye-opening experience for the reader. It is important for every American no mater age what to read this masterpiece. It lets one see the horrific crimes we committed against an innocent race because they were different. It lets the reader fully understand the conditions if you were an African-American living in the South in the 1950's. When something is understood it can be prevented from every happening again.

Rating:
Summary: Knowledgeable and Moving
Review: Nobody can deny the social importance of Griffin's novel Black Like Me. Nobody can deny that it is priceless, a first-hand historical account of what it's like being black in the Deep South--by an outsider, a white man turned black by artificial and deliberate means. This book is about suffering, so I cannot say that I enjoyed it. I am, however, glad that I read it. The major downfall, however, is that it is in diary form at not as poignant and moving as it could have been.

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Summary: A brief and complete reveiw of John Griffin's Black Like Me
Review: What better way to discover what it is like to be someone thanto become them? This is exactly what John Griffin did in 1959. Johnwas a writer for an African-American magazine, Sepia, who wanted todiscover what it was like to be an African-American in the DeepSouth.... END

Rating:
Summary: Amazing and True Story
Review: This is an excellent book for anyone to read. It reallys shows the reality of what racial discrimination was and is occurring. This amazing true story goes through the life of a man who, like most whites males, will never be in a situation of being a true minority. It is astonishing the reactions this educated man gets because of a simple change of skin color. I think everyone can learn a lot from this book and make those who don't see it ,realize the racial tensions this nation has. I garauntee if you read this book (not being a minority) you will feel shame for what we cause minorites to go through for simply being a minority.

Rating:
Summary: Someone Else's Reality
Review: We simply cannot experience everything. There are too many options to choose between. Our only hope to understand all that is out there is through books. Vicariously we can at least partial understand the suffering in our world. Black Like Me is one of the better inside looks at a particular reality. Griffin sunned and dyed himself black and went into the deep south to experience life as a black man. The book is a revelation of human nature. Written as a diary it is hard not to symphathize with the situation described. Everything should read.

Rating:
Summary: Should be required reading in school
Review: As a caucasian American, I don't know what it is like to live as an African American in the United States, day in and day out. I have rarely experienced direct or indirect racism. Perhaps I never will. And for that reason, I can never truly relate to the racism experienced by people who are not caucasian. This book provides a place to start, however. Without it, I think many may be tempted to say, "surely that never happens," or "I'm sure it's not that bad." It is a sad testimony to our country that it took a white person writing a book like this (instead of just listening to those already experiencing racism) to wake us up, but at least it has served its purpose. As I read the book (which is a very quick read) I felt like I was riding along with Griffin in the South and walking the roads with him. I don't know how he maintained his composure during some of the situations he found himself in. I respect what he did, especially considering the hate he experienced both during and after his "experiement."

In conclusion, I wonder what would happen if someone did this again, in the year 2000. Given what I've read by African American authors and heard from black friends, I don't know if it would be all that different. Perhaps the racism wouldn't be as blatant. But all in all, not very different.