"Black Like Me" . . .

[OneBlueSky]

arguably the most important book on racism in the US ever written . . . new hardcover edition was released in May . . . should be required reading for every American . . .



http://www.wingspress.com/Titles/Black_Like_Me.html

ABOUT JOHN HOWARD GRIFFIN:

Known primarily as the author of the modern classic, Black Like Me, John Howard Griffin (1920-1980) was a true Renaissance man. Having fought in the French Resistance and been a solo observer on an island in the South Pacific during World War II, he became a critically-acclaimed novelist and essayist, a remarkable photographer and musicologist, and a dynamic lecturer and teacher. On October 28, 1959, after a decade of blindness and a remarkable and inexplicable recovery, John Howard Griffin dyed himself black and began an odyssey of discovery through the segregated American South. The result was Black Like Me, arguably the single most important documentation of 20th century American racism ever written.

Because of Black Like Me, Griffin was personally vilified, hanged in effigy in his hometown, and threatened with death for the rest of his life. Griffin's courageous act and the book it generated earned him international respect as a human rights activist. Griffin worked with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Dick Gregory, Saul Alinsky, and NAACP Director Roy Wilkins during the Civil Rights era. He taught seminars at the University of Peace with Nobel Peace Laureate Father Dominique Pire, and delivered hundreds of lectures worldwide. Earlier, during a decade of blindness (1947-1957), he wrote novels. His 1952 bestseller, The Devil Rides Outside was a test case in a controversial censorship trial that was settled in his favor by the US Supreme Court. Later in his life, Griffin was also recognized for his magnificent black & white photographic portraits, which were featured in his photographic books A Hidden Wholeness: The Visual World of Thomas Merton (Griffin was also Thomas MertonÕs biographer) and Jacques Maritain: Homage in Words and Pictures.

- much more . . .

http://www.wingspress.com/Titles/Black_Like_Me.html

[cmkramer]

1. Movie

There was a movie based on the book which starred James Whitmore.

I read the book a year or so ago, and it's really very compelling.

[murielm99]

2. The movie was awful.

Whitmore was not very convincing as a black man.

But the book has stayed with me for years.

[Hekate]

3. It must be hard for this generation to imagine...

... how rigidly the color line was drawn back then. Light-skinned "blacks" sometimes found that by moving away (and leaving their loved ones behind forever) they could "pass" into white society with its privileges, so in that sense the color line was permeable; but socially it seldom was.

I read Black Like Me when I was in high school, so I think my mother must have gotten it from the library. We were living in Hawaii, and the author might have been writing about the anthropology of Martians, it was so alien to my personal experience. But the civil rights movement was visiting us on the nightly news, plus vivid photos in Life magazine, so Black Like Me was very relevant to my trying to understand that other world. Griffin took incalculable risks: social, legal, and medical.

The book made for gripping reading and helped many in the white community come to a clearer understanding of racism. I'm glad to see that it's back in print -- it remains an important document.

Hekate

[H2O Man]

4. great book!

One of the most important of its era.

[Piperay]

5. Book was a real eye opener

reading it had a great influence on the way I thought about race.

[mrbill]

6. 1964 or 1965?

Flashback to sometime back in high school, which was 'seperate but equal'. LBJ had just freed the slaves.

Found my paperback copy at the local, long time defunct Curtwood Motel and Newsstand. The owner/manager loved to read and was a leftist trouble-maker with his choice of reading materials.

Perfect book report material, had to get a ruling from the principal.

One most excellent book.

[gator_in_Ontario]

7. Excellent book

having grown up in the Jim Crow south, it was very good...and stands the test of some years.
I would never make light of it...but a book sprung into my head, cuz sometimes I feel like writing "LIBERAL LIKE ME'

[Sydnie]

8. I always have my kids read what I consider a classic over the summer

and two years ago, I had my then 15 year old son read that one. We had many discussions about it. He also is growing up in a rather "white reflective" community and I wanted to make sure that he had explored himself and his feelings around this subject. I think it was a growing experience for both of us that summer. It opened dialog that we had not anticipated and brought us closer in the process.

I don't ever see it show up on a "recommended reading list" for any school. That is what prompted me to have him read that one that summer.

The book he picked from his reading list this summer was Runaway Jury. I supplemented that choice with Catcher In The Rye as my required summer reading book for him this year.

[LWolf]

9. Sydnie,

:yourock:

A parent engaging his/her child in the reading of significant literature, and participating in thoughtful discussion of the work over the summer?

This teacher thanks you, and salutes you.

:loveya: