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Essay / A theme of racism in Black Like Me by JH Griffin
The book Black Like Me is a non-fiction first published in October 1961 by a white journalist and author named John Howard Griffin recounting his trip to the South deep. in November 1959 after undergoing several skin treatments to temporarily change the color of his skin. Griffin's experience began at a time when African Americans lived under racial segregation. In Black Like Me, there are many instances where Griffen is discriminated against and he becomes "annoyed by those who love humanity but are discourteous to people". The book received the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award a year after its publication to honor its important contribution to explaining racism and appreciating the rich diversity of human culture. Soon after, the book became a modern classic and sold ten million copies. It was so successful that it was translated into fourteen different languages and adapted into a film. Even today, racial oppression exists, although it is not as blatant as it appears in Black Like Me. Griffin's work remains a powerful historical experiment that is used across the country in school teachings . The year it was published, Newsweek described Griffin's work as "piercing and memorable." The racism Griffin faced "was a small thing, but along with other small things, it broke something inside me." Griffin faced racial discrimination when he left his home in Texas to travel to the Deep South, including New Orleans, Atlanta, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on "Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned"?Get the original essayGriffin's goal was to experience first-hand the obstacles and difficulties of being African American in America in order to better understand what life was like. as an African American man and to find the answers to why people thought it was okay to discriminate against someone solely based on the color of their skin. Griffin conducted this experiment aimed at making racists aware of their inhumane treatment of African Americans in hopes of changing social moralities. However, as the book progresses, the profound changes he undergoes cause Griffin to learn at least as much about himself. The social message of Griffin's experience shines through the narrative structure of the book, which functions as a catalog of different forms of racial oppression in the United States. John Howard Griffin, born June 16, 1920, was an American journalist and author from Texas who felt strongly about racial equality and portrayed it through his writing. During his stay in France, he noticed that black people were not treated the same as in the Deep South, which led him to want to learn more about racism, making it a famous social experiment and unforgettable. He is best known for his Black Like Me project, in which he sought to view life and segregation on the other side of the color line. The main theme of Black Like Me is the representation of the evil that is racism. Racism was a major problem in the Deep South and Griffin wanted to change that. Griffin describes how painful it is to face discrimination based on skin color. It shows the ugliness of racists and their personalities distorted by hatred. The extraordinary personal change Griffin undergoes as a black man is a powerful testament to the crucial importance of race as a factor of identity in a racist society, where hierarchy.