Understanding Racial Prejudice in Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin

It is both a blessing and a curse that people can go their entire life without personally experiencing discrimination. People tend to take for granted what they have, and few often question it. This is partially due to our own ignorance, as well as our own wish to not think of such issues in our society. Few people actually go as far as to put themselves in the shoes of those who face every day discrimination, but when they do it can come as a rude awakening.

Black Like Me follows John Howard Griffin, a man who decided to do just that. This autobiography takes place in Mansfield, Texas, in 1959, and heavily centers around the civil rights debate taking place in the United States. John was as committed to racial justice as any African-American at the time, but there was one limiting factor. John himself was white, and believed that, as a white man, he wasn’t able to fully understand the struggle of black people. However rather than doing what most have done, and merely seek out, interview, and question those who have faced discrimination, John decided to go for a more extreme approach. John wanted to undergo a temporary skin pigmentation change in order to become black. Understanding the risks, social repercussions, and potential violence against him and his family, John decided to go through with the procedure.

After undergoing the procedure, John traveled to New Orleans to begin his new life. He was fully expecting to experience hardship and oppression, but was shocked at the extent to which it occurred. Everywhere John went, the term “n**ger” followed him. He was unable to find a bathroom, he could use, a job, and clerks refused to cash his checks. A white man went as far as to try and attack John, but was chased away. John was getting his first taste of racial discrimination. After spending several days in New Orleans, Griffin decided to go to what is considered the “Deep South”. This area is made up of Mississippi and Alabama. At this time a jury had just refused to indict a lynch mob for the murder of an innocent, young, black man, before he even stood trial.

Throughout the Deep South, John found the conditions for black people to be much worse. Black communities seemed defeated and in ruins. At this time the preacher Martin Luther King Jr. was gaining popularity as a civil rights activist through his use of non-violent civil disobedience. One day he looked in the mirror only to discover a look of defeat in his. It was evident that the experiment was beginning to take its toll on John. He even decided to briefly cease taking his medication. However, John had an idea, for an experiment. He decided to begin going into places first as a black man and later as a white man, in order to study the race relations. During this experiment John found that as a black man, he experienced warmth and compassion from other black people, but mistrust and hostility from white people. As a white man, black people seemed to fear him and treated John with suspicion, but white people treated him with respect and dignity. After the conclusion of this experiment, John came to the terms that the races didn’t understand each other, and that there needed to be a way to bridge the societal gap between the two races. Today this gap is still prevalent, but has shrunk in the decades since the Civil Rights Movement.

While in Atlanta, John interviewed many different black leaders before returning home. Once home, he decided to stop taking the medication, and permanently returned to being a white man. John decided to publish an article about his experiences. However, after his publication, the people of Mansfield turned against John and his family. He received threats, specifically to castrate him, and crosses were burned in his name. John and his family were forced out of their community, and he decided to escape to Mexico. Before he left, John imparted his wisdom upon a young black boy. He taught the boy that people aren’t born with racial prejudice. Racism is merely a result of conditioning, and how one is taught.

John Howard Griffin is potentially one of the only white people in the U.S. that has even come close to understanding racial prejudice the way other races and minorities do. The only difference is that John had the option to go back.