John Howard Griffin Essay

During a time of segregation, racism, and hardships amongst the African American community particularly the south John Howard Griffin was a visionary.   John Howard Griffin was born Dallas, Texas on June 20, 1920.   He was the second son to John Walter and Lena May Griffin.   His mother was a Pianist that taught for thirty years in Fort Worth, and his father was a radio personality as a young man.   He married Elizabeth Ann Holland in 1954.   John Howard Griffin gained an appreciation for literature and music because of his exposure to it at an early age from his parents.   He attended R.L. Paschal in Fort Worth at age fifteen left to pursue better education in France.   By age nineteen John Howard Griffin worked as a medic in the French resistance army.   He also served in the Army for the U.S. during World War II.   World War II was also the time he ended up losing his sight for twelve years and began writing novels.
Out of all the novels John Howard Griffin wrote he was well known for “Black Like Me”(1961).   This book was ground breaking because instead of John Howard Griffin being the typical racist white male in the southern parts of our nation during the early fifties.   He put his self in the shoes of a African American male, he experienced the racism that African American’s were dealing with during that time of segregation. John Howard Griffin was so dedicated to experiencing what an African American was feeling that he chemically altered his skin to be black and even shaved his head.   Because John Howard Griffin took it to this extreme he seen how cruel and unequal African Americans were being treated and exposed it in “Black Like Me”(1961).   His book is still being printed and translated in thirteen languages. “Black Like Me”(1961) was a success,   but everyone didn’t agree with the concept of a white man altering his self to be black to expose southern segregation. Protester protested vigorously against John Howard Griffins Book. So John Howard Griffin and his...