Racism In Black Like Me

Black Like Me is a diary style account of rampant racism in America written by John Griffin just before the civil rights movement. Griffin wrote the book as a real life account of what he witnessed during his racism experiment, but he published the book in novel form with dates of the events included in the text. Griffin’s experiment began in 1959 and was published in 1961. Black Like Me also won the Anisfield-Wolf book award for its effectiveness in portraying the brutal realities of racism in many southern states at the time. A reinforcing quote from the author, “He who is less than just is less than man,” really helps drive home how strongly he felt about ending racism in the United States. As Griffin completes the final stages of preparing for his experiment, he already knows the risks involved in what he is about to do. However, not even Griffin’s level of competence and confidence can prepare him for what he is about to go through. “I was imprisoned in the flesh of an utter stranger, an unsympathetic one with whom I felt no kinship. All traces of …show more content…
Griffin even reflects in the beginning of Black Like Me, “For years the idea had haunted me, and that night it returned more insistently than ever” (3). The state of racism that ruled in the 1950’s south was extremely oppressive to the black community. Lynchings, KKK violence, segregation, and general disrespect was something that had become an unfortunate normality at this time in U.S. history. Luckily for African American citizens in the south, not all whites shared this hatred for races different themselves, and John Griffin was one of them. Griffin was so passionate about the matter that he was willing to put himself and his family in danger. Griffin undoubtedly recorded his experiences in the form of Black Like Me to prove just how brutal and unjustified racism was at that