Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin (2010-10-20)

I recalled this title recently from my high school years of many decades ago. In the current time, it was as powerful now as I recalled it to be. Truly a gut-wrenching classic on experiencing unethical discrimination.

This book's effect on the civil rights movement of the 60's was profound. I work in a similar field, with the poverty stricken ethnic community of my area, and it showed me how we hide our feelings about cultural difference now, but I think they are still there. I was very surprised that the experiment only lasted a month, but in reading, I realized he had great difficulty emotionally coping with the whole experience of being black before the civil rights act was passed. I wonder what the experience would hold today...

Excellent true story! Have read twice in my life--in college many years ago and again last month, 40 yrs later. It was even more meaningful the second time but sad that more hasn't changed in many ways!

It's an interesting read with different viewpoints. It comments on a controversial time in United States history, but it is a good commentary and it offers an inside look into something that few have the experience to know.

This was about a brave and very revealing role taken on at a very crucial part/time in the 20th century. It really help me see things from a totally different perspective . . . showed aspects I never even considered before!

this book is revolutionary! absolutely recomend this to everyone! i believe this should be a must read in all high schools. this book has opened up th eyes of many and will continue to do so for centuries to come!

I remember reading this in college and I recommended it to my granddaughter as it was on the list for high school reading. We watched the Cesar Chavez movie last month and now she read this story. It is a real eye opener to introduce her to past race relations in our country.

This book gives a fantastic insight into the attitudes of the races in America in the 1950's. It is a grim view into the darkness of racism that seems to plague the human race. Despite the removal of formal, institutionalised racism it is evident that such behavior still exists.

Although I consider racism and predjudice to be sinful and thus reject it, this book really showed me that I have much to consider still in regards to the I-thou dynamic. In other words it is eye opening'

The was required reading in the past. I think it should continue to be so. Especially today. So many people have forgotten what it is like to walk in someone else's shoes. Rev. Griffin does that and made history back in the 1960's for doing so.

I find it especially disturbing that one can recognize the stage set up for the war on racial integration disguised as war on drugs. The southern resistance to the integration from the 60's is a crucial part of how the justice system targets the racial minorities today and yet no one seems to recognize it or cares about it enough to do something about it.

54 years after its publication this is still a staggering book to read. I actually felt sick owing to Griffin's plain and straight-forward descriptions of his day to day as a black man. Despite all tue advances since then, racism and making people "Other" continues so this book should continue to be required reading in our schools.

A must read for everyone!
John H. Griffin, a white journalist, begins a personal journey throughout the segregated south in the 1950’s to learn what it means to be Negro through the eyes of a “black” man. Throughout his journey Griffin witnesses first hand the discrimination by his white brothers and that segregation was most definitely not equal.

This is a powerful book that is so appropriate now in helping Americans better understand where we have been . . . and should be in our battle to improve the lot of both black and white citizens to the point that we will all be judged by the content of our character and not the color of our skin.

Having read this book many years ago, it was somewhat depressing to again experience the racism of our past, yet inspirational to read the heroic journey into blackness by the author. The thing we have to remember is the author knew he could always return to the safety of the White insider class. Henry

The story of John Howard Griffin's foray into the black community in 1959 still holds as much insight into white racism as it did when it came out 50+ years ago. Griffin's literary style takes the reader on the journey with him, and let's the reader feel the burn of discriminating, demoralizing treatment. It is an indictment against every person that prejudges another based on their appearance.

I remember reading this book in 5th grade and didn't like it much. I thought it was boring. But recently I bought this book for my niece after telling her about it. She was very eager to read it. I guess she likes the book better than I did. She's currently in the 8th grade.

I read Black Like Me in college, and it summarized all that I knew about the deep south, and southern resistance to letting black people live their lives in American freedom. I reread the book last year, and put it on my reading list for a social psychology course. The students who read it were stunned with the story, and with the writers bravery. I recommend it highly.

I recently finished re-reading "Black Like Me." My first exposure to this book was when it was required reading in high school. Although I can't recall if it was Social Studies or American History, I do remember that, as much as I disliked the class itself -- not to mention teary-eyed ol' Mr. Jones, who taught it -- I found the book to be pretty interesting. For some indefinable reason, I developed an urge to read it again. Anyone who knows me, knows that I prefer the escape of reading for pure entertainment over the energy required to delve into anything that offers much in the way of redeeming social value. But delve I did.

Decades after that first read, I found this book more than just interesting. I found it uncomfortably enlightening. It brought to the forefront that so much, yet so little, has changed in the 50+ years since John Howard Griffin's account of his amazing journey. We like to believe we've made great progress...and we have in many ways...but, the truth of the matter is, there are still too many of us who are either unwilling or unable to totally embrace parts of society that don't fit our idea of "the norm." It goes beyond skin color. It's our incapacity to accept the notion that not everyone must fit our mold of religion, culture, lifestyle, political party, IQ, income level, etc., etc., etc. We still tend to use these criteria to determine who does, or doesn't, deserve our respect.

I'm not talking about how to deal with people who live with a blatant disregard for the safety and well-being of others. There are laws and rules of common decency that address those types of situations. I'm talking about how we relate to people who simply live in ways we don't quite understand. And that which we don't understand generally makes us uncomfortable. We let that lack of understanding set us apart to the point that we elevate ourselves in an effort to feel righteous...to feel safe. It boils down to arrogance. It boils down to fear. When we treat others in an inhumane way, it boils down to a loss of our own humanity.

Read the book. It may not be overly exciting but, if read with an open mind, it will definitely prove insightful. My simplistic take-away is this: We are all different, we are all flawed and we are all members of the same human race. I sadly doubt that we will see true equality in my lifetime, but I plan to remind myself daily that it is not okay to treat anyone as "less than." After all, who am I to make such a distinction? And I hope those I encounter along the way will offer me the same courtesy.