Black Like Me By: John Howard Griffin

Taking place in 1959, a white man decides to darken his skin to see what it is really like to live as a black man. His basis was that a black man will never tell him how bad his life truly is to a white man, being scared that there will be reprisals from the white man. I was saddened by the precautions the narrator takes in setting up his "Experiment". He acts like a guilty man at the beginning , not wanting to get his friends involved in case they get attacked for allowing him to do this study. Then after reading up on John Griffin, realized that was exactly what happened. After the story got out an effigy of him was hung in his home town and he received death threats. He was eventually forced to move to Mexico. The book was extremely powerful and showed how utterly powerless Griffin was as a black man. He goes from being treated with respect and kindness from the black population to being treated with contempt and like a child from the whites. He realizes the absurdity of his position while standing outside a restaurant. He says " though I am the same person with the same appetite, the same appreciation, the same wallet, no power on earth can get me inside this place for a meal." This was a very powerful read and makes you hope this heart wrenching treatment isn't tolerated today. In his book Griffin talks about his time of blindness and how his senses of smell and hearing were heightened. Upon further research into Griffin's life, I found that he was blinded from an accident while in the United States Air Force and was blind for 10 years between 1947-1957. Two years later he began this book. This experience lasted for one month, when Griffin realized he couldn't withstand anymore. It really made you think about the people that cannot say "I've had enough" and live another life.