Black Like Me Book Summary

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John Howard Griffin, the author of this book is a white man born in Mansfield, Texas. He is a writer, and thinks about how different life could be as a black man in the south. He was always a strong anti-segregator, but he needed a real story that could stir people’s hearts. This was when he came up with the wild idea of becoming a black man himself. He went to talk to his friend George Levitan who was an owner of a famous Negro magazine. Levitan told Griffin, “It’s a crazy idea. You could get yourself killed down there.” But Levitan still supported him. After talking to his wife and getting her agreement, Griffin got ready to go to a dermatologist to get his skin dyed darker temporarily. The book is in a Journal format, indicating the dates that he recorded in his actual diary for the book. Griffin lists all the events, all the people that he meets, and the result is very shocking. He starts his journey in New Orleans, feeling lonely and confused if this was the right thing to do. He realizes that the people that he had met while he was still “white” do not recognize him at all and their attitudes are completely different. Now when people see him, they “look” at him, but do not see him. He sits down at a bar and starts to talk to many people. He was shocked to find out that blacks must use their sexuality to be noticed by one another and claim that their manhood has been taken away. A part of the book that was shocking to me was when Griffin talked to the FBI agents about his plan before he enacted it. Their conversation goes: “Do you suppose they’ll treat me as John Howard Griffin, regardless of my color—or will they treat me as some nameless Negro, even through I am still the same man?” The agents answered: “You’re not serious. They’re not going to ask you any questions. As soon as they see you, you’ll be a Negro and that’s all they’ll ever want to
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