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Analysis Of Black Like Me By John Howard Griffin

613 Words3 Pages

In the book Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin, there was an overall theme that related to the whole idea and reason as to why he decided to experience being a black man temporarily. That theme is the evil of racism. John Howard Griffin is a middle-aged white man living in Mansfield, Texas in 1959 whom is deeply committed to the cause of racial justice and becomes frustrated by his inability as he, a white man, attempts to understand the black experience. Griffin decides to undergo treatment to temporarily become a black man. After securing the support of George Levitan, the editor of a black-oriented magazine called Sepia which will fund Griffin's experience in return for an article about it, Griffin sets out for New Orleans to begin his life as a black man. …show more content…

Throughout the time of being black, he was always receiving hate stares, threats, harassment, etc. For example, one day Griffin was trying to use the restroom of an ice cream stand but the white owner of the stand bullied him away, forcing him to travel more than ten blocks to use a toilet. In addition, he had many difficulties finding food, shelter, work, etc. The reason being is because since he was black, he was not allowed to use many buildings considering it was owned by racist whites who only served to whites. In many situations, he had to walk many more miles away to a negro cafe to get food or even just to use a bathroom. Furthermore, he had many difficulties looking for a job since many white owned buildings did not permit blacks near their building at all and since there aren’t many negro places, there aren’t many job opportunities. In addition, he was denied and rejected by many places to get a

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