Black like Me

John Howard Griffin, both author of Black Like Me and prominent journalist, sets out to discover what life was really like as a black man in the Deep South. He darkened his skin, using sunlamps and medication, in order to study just that. He was most likely not ready for what he was about to embark upon, including harsh discrimination and denied civil rights. Griffin encounters many racial barriers that exist between whites and Negroes, creating a racial divide. These blockades thoroughly destroy the dignity and self worth of the Negroes themselves.

An example of this occurs while Griffin rode a bus. When the white passengers got off the bus during the rest stop, the bus driver prevented the Negro passengers from departing. The Negroes were about to urinate all over the bus, but they decided it would just be another thing for the whites to hold against blacks. “The whites would start claiming that we were unfit, that Negroes did not even know enough to go to the rest room- they just did it in the back of the bus…” (Griffin, page 64) They are forced to be humiliated in front of each other as well as the whites on the bus.

Thus, while Griffin is on his way to Montgomery, Alabama, he decides to hitchhike. A white man gives him a ride only because it is pitch black. (This is common because seeing a black and white man together merely causes commotion amongst others, but white men mainly give them rides to discuss the sexual life of a black man). This particular man asks rude and exceedingly personal questions, including asking to see his penis in order to bring to a close the rumors white men have heard about them. “He asked about the size of Negro genitalia and the details of Negro sex life...The boy ended up wanting me to expose myself to him…” (Griffin, page 90) Griffin knows refusing this man would only cause another problem and bring more negative attention from the whites. However, this area for Griffin is still white because he did not use lamps for it, which would also generate a problem by showing who he really was: a white man.

Subsequently, while in the rest room one time, Griffin discovers posters hanging on the urinal walls.