What is the "book black like me" about?

Question

Its a book

Answer 1

"Black Like Me" is a non-fiction book by the white journalist John Howard Griffen who, in 1959 when race relations between blacks and whites were particularly strained, used the drug oxsoralen and ultraviolet tanning treatments to darken his skin.

Posing as a black man, he then traveled through Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia, immersing himself in black society.

Griffen kept a journal and the book is the story about his experiences as a black man, including stories about how, on a bus, he got up to offer his seat to a white woman, but glares from other black people made him sit back down. The white woman told her companion "How uppity they're becoming". On another occasion, he was talking with a black man about how difficult it was to find a public toilet that black people were allowed to use, and how in church you spent most of your time praying for a rest room.

After publication of the book, Griffin was hanged in effigy in his home town and threatened with death.

Answer 2

The Moves Make the Man - A boy who connects basketball with growing up in the prejudiced South and befriends a white boy who he teaches the game to The Color Purple Black Boy Their Eyes Were Watching God - Black woman deals with growing up under male oppression And a better term would be African-American Literature.

Answer 3

I have also heard that the author of 'Black, Like Me' died as a result of skin cancer that he contracted from the treatments to darken his skin. It was a very good book, but isn't it interesting that white man had to write about prejudice and being treated as a second class citizen for it to be taken seriously?

Dream Variations
by Langston Hughes

To fling my arms wide
In some place of the sun,
To whirl and to dance
Till the white day is done.
Then rest at cool evening
Beneath a tall tree
While night comes on gently.
Dark like me-
That is my dream!

To fling my arms wide
In the face of the sun,
Dance! Whiirl! Whirl!
Till the quick day is done.
Rest at pale evening . . .
A tall, slim tree . . .
Night coming tenderly
Black like me.

Answer 4

In print continuously in various editions since its original publication in 1961, Black Like Me is the extraordinary story of Griffin, a white Texan who in 1959 took some capsules (prescribed by a dermatologist), exposed himself to ultraviolet light under a sunlamp, and stained his skin to make himself appear darker. In this condition, he traveled in the Deep South and "passed" as black for a month, experiencing what it was like to be perceived and treated as a black man. Griffin sought work, but was always told there was nothing for him. He confided his secret to a shoeshine man in New Orleans, who helped him. As a "black" man, Griffin was denied service at hotels and restaurants, denied a drink of water at white establishments, not permitted to use restrooms. In every instance, he had to find a facility for "Negroes." One white man asked him to expose himself so that he could satisfy his curiosity about the legendary size of black men's genitalia. Other whites inquired about black sexuality or boasted to him of exploits with black women. Griffin's account confirmed that blacks endured debasing, second-class treatment. An important and classic work.

Answer 5

I read that book more than 40 years ago. Lovelyliv has the answer.

Answer 6

I remember I had to read that for college, although I can't remember anything about the actual text. Good luck with that. Happy Holidays!

Answer 7

i dont kno, maybe its about a black person, i wouldnt read it im black and i know what its like, if someone wants to know what its like maybe they should ask a black person. i take that back dont ask what its like being black, im a person like everyone else!!!!!

Answer 8

I now but to remember that it's not easy,sorry.
happy new year.