Take a photo of a barcode or cover
alexrobinsonsupergenius 's review for:
Black Like Me
by John Howard Griffin
dark
informative
tense
medium-paced
A tough book to review, both because of its unique concept (a white man goes undercover as a black man in 1959) and how it reads in our own racially tense times. That the author is well-intentioned and very sympathetic to the plight of his subjects but it’s kind of hard to swallow when he uses his (temporary & brief) time amongst them to speak on their behalf.
His disguise is achieved through a shaved head, UV rays and skin dyes and claimed that other than changing the color of his skin did not alter his behavior or mannerisms, which is interesting because, based on the handful of murky b&w (haha) photos, he looks very much like a white man in black make up. I can see racist whites not bothering to look any closer but that fact that he also passes easily among the black population is curious.
A sad and thought provoking book. The small comfort I took away is that the 2008 election proved America is officially no longer racist
His disguise is achieved through a shaved head, UV rays and skin dyes and claimed that other than changing the color of his skin did not alter his behavior or mannerisms, which is interesting because, based on the handful of murky b&w (haha) photos, he looks very much like a white man in black make up. I can see racist whites not bothering to look any closer but that fact that he also passes easily among the black population is curious.
A sad and thought provoking book. The small comfort I took away is that the 2008 election proved America is officially no longer racist
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Murder
Moderate: Rape, Slavery, Police brutality