This is a startling, disturbing and unforgettable book. The closest you can come to walking in another's shoes. Griffin, a white man, darkens his skin and disguises himself to experience life as a black man in the deep South in the late 1950's.His experiences are not just eye opening, but deeply changing. Every American should read this to understand just an inkling of the race dilemma. John Griffin's later interviews and articles about his experiences are interesting as well. ( )

This is the story of a man who changed his skin. In the late 1950's John Griffin, a white journalist, stained his skin dark brown and traveled into the deep south to experience racism firsthand. He was shocked at what he found. Being educated and well-spoken did not help him find employment or be treated with courtesy from white people. On the contrary, he was often treated despicably by them, and many white men defended to him with complete candor and confidence their racist attitudes. He encountered prejudice, anger, fear and mistrust- on the part of both black and white people, towards each other. He was also recipient of compassion and acts of kindness from his fellow men... and returned to his own home months later a changed man. Black Like Me is a very moving account, one that still makes an impression on me just as it did when I first read it back in high school (not as an assignment).

from the DogEar Diary ( )

What a heart-wrenching book! It gave me a much deeper understanding of the times of the civil rights movement, and even of the racism against blacks today.

This book holds up surprisingly well after all these years. I've probably read this book five or six times, and each time it still grips me the same way as the first. A chilling tale about a white man experiencing living in the jim crow south of the 50's as a black man, it's both enlightening and tragic. ( )

John Howard Griffin, a white man, had his skin darkened and went into the southern USA in 1959. (I intend to reread and write a full review.)