The Role of Time and Place in Black Like Me

Time and place in “Black Like Me” is essential to the story because the story itself was to give insight to what life would be like as an African American living in the south during the Jim Crow “Separate But Equal” time of America. Without the story being set in during this specific time frame, “Black Like Me”wouldn’t have the same effect that it does, therefore, has to be done the way it is. The author, John Howard Griffin experiences lots of hardships and enlightenment during his experiment not only because he was black, but because of his interactions with the people during the experiment. 

In “Black Like Me” pages 14 through 16, Griffin is staying at a hotel while in New Orleans. He enters the bathroom with two other black men, one in the shower and the other waiting.Griffin just casually has a conversation with the men for the night just asking about New Orleans. The novel is written in a diary style with journal entries so everything written in the novel is done by Griffin only with reason to why he adds certain information. He adds this detail with the men because it was a new experience. He was greeted with open arms from the men despite just meeting them now. It was significant because it disputes the idea that blacks in this time period “were different” because of not being white. This same detail wouldn’t be able to play out the same in a current setting because of how times have changed, thus, further enhancing why the time and place are so significant. The details also show how race didn’t have an impact on identity if you were interacting with your own race. Although Griffin is white, he is technically black and that is how the other men treated him like one of their own. On pages 45 through 48, Griffin is talking with Sterling about a lynching of a black man in Mississippi after the black man was denied fair trail by the “Pearl River County Grand Jury”. Sterling, who is outraged, remarks “What hope is there when a white jury won’t even look at the evidence against the lynch mob?”. 

On previous pages, Griffin is speaking of his first week in New Orleans. He speaks on the treatment of black people he sees. Griffin says “the Negro is treated not even like a second-class citizen, but as a tenth-class one.” The detail of the lynching is included to provide reason to Griffin’s statement that black people are treated with injustice. During this time, lynching was common the south for blacks. Blacks could be lynched for voting for the wrong people, trying to gain equality or simply for sport. The Grand Jury denying the right to a fair trial is a clear act of racism. The man who was lynched had his identity overlooked because of his race, which ultimately he was judged by. The jury not even attempting to look at the evidence of the lynching proves the idea that when it comes to different races, identity will not be looked at, only color, which was what this time frame was all about. During his time in Mississippi, Griffin would wander the highway, often getting picked up and given a ride. A ride from a young white man gave insight and contradiction to the white society’s opinion of black people. The ride is from page 88 up to page 94. Griffin quickly noted to the reader that the young man “questions had a spurious elevation of a scholar seeking information, but the information he sought was entirely sexual and presupposed that in the ghetto the Negro’s life is one of a marathon of sex with many different partners.”

 In earlier pages, specifically page 69, Griffin is implying that the white society see black people as animals who try to escape reality with “noise, wine, sex, or gluttony.” Back on pages 88-94, the young man is curious about the sex life of blacks that he asks Griffin questions only about sex. The man is dumbfounded by how Griffin responds stating how intelligently Griffin speaks under the idea Griffin is an uneducated black. Whites perceive blacks to be animals just craving sex and claim to be better than them, yet the whites themselves are so curious of the blacks’ way of living that they want to mimic their lifestyles in secret because the public would deem the whites as “Negro lovers”. It is because of the time the novel is set in that these ideas are relevant and related to the people of the 1950s and 60s. In a currently set Mississippi, these questions would never be answered because they would never be asked so it is necessary to have this time frame because of the context it creates to the novel similar to a character. A minor detail that has Griffin included, but has major implication and history behind it is on page 99. Griffin says “an important part of my daily life was spent searching for the basic things that all whites take for granted: a place to eat, somewhere to find a drink of water, a restroom, somewhere to wash my hands”. During this time, was of course, segregation with the “Separate But Equal” ideology. Griffin on page 91-92 said basically that Negro and white have the same issues meaning it’s not a issue upon color, but one of man. The young man from the car ride pages prior said that “We (we being white people) don’t deprive you people of the pleasures of the spirit.” Whites would take a more systematic approach to oppress blacks by removing the basic necessities of life all men need to survive. That detail was important to include because it corresponds with what the young white man says as it is a lie. White all had the privilege and freedom of being able to do what blacks at the time could not: eat anywhere, have a drink, and use the restroom because it was understood to them they were dominant and superior in this period of time. 

The events of “Black Like Me” helped to better understand what the life of a black man would be like in the south. Griffin a white man turned black lived as a black man. It would be impossible to truly understand what the life of one person would be like if you yourself aren’t that person. In the aftermath of the events, whites would always asked Griffin about his experience. Griffin in return, would tell them to ask the black people. They are far more credible than Griffin could be. The whites are concerned with the issues of racism and inequality, yet won’t consult with black people. Griffin couldn’t fully understand what life would be like as a black man unless he himself was to become black, like what he does in the novel. Although he didn’t grow up and experience the life of a black child, he does experience the life of a black adult. Griffin had presented an alternative which was to just ask black people. He realized that they would never feel comfortable in telling their hardships and wouldn’t even tell the truth. This ultimately led to the novel and Griffin’s journey through the south. Without the story being told in the 50s, the novel would lose its meaning and not have nearly as big of an impact that it does on society, past or present.