John Howard Griffin Essay

ces whites had about black blacks, but also the prejudgments blacks had about whites in the late 1950s. In his book, Griffin disguises himself as a black man by darkening his skin and cutting his hair. Soon after his transformation he sets out in the city of New Orleans where he quickly realizes his limitations of now being a black man. Throughout the book he continues to see the different encounters with people based on where he is and if he disguises himself as black or stays white. John Howard Griffin’s experiment taught him that whites and blacks generally misunderstand each other and that is why it is so hard to make improvements in desegregating the nation. While Griffin was disguised as a black man he got to experience all aspects

Griffin realized that many whites of this time did not hate blacks whatsoever but really just tolerated racism because they are afraid of the real suprematists. The positive letters Griffin had received led him to reflect on the whites who were not racists themselves, but who were bullied by their societies into going along with racist tendencies and actions. Griffin recognizes that this cowardly behavior has drawn out racism in America. He learned that even the people who do not do any physical or emotional harm to others were still not speaking out against those who act on their hatred, creating a general trend of racial injustice. Griffin was also surprised to find out that as a black man the subtle, non physical racism against black people turned out to be just as frustrating and exhausting as the physical stance against blacks. When trying to do something as simple as buying a bus ticket, the white lady on the other side of the counter gave him such a hard time about a simple task that would be easily avoided if he was of a different skin color. Though Griffin did know the vast problems of racism, it was not until his experiment that he learned the extent of how hard it was to do a simple chores as a black