- How did this article about John Griffin open your eyes to the experience of racism?
- Consider this unit title “Chasms to Cross”—what “chasms” has Lily crossed in her life?
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Wk. 4 Option #10: Black Like Me
esponse Requirement:
Going from her “all-white” world into the world with the Boatwrights presented many revelations for Lily. Read this short bit about John Griffin’s experience as a white man AND as an African American man.
Lee Harper wrote the famous line, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it” in the hugely famous To Kill A Mockingbird in 1960.
Less than a year earlier, John Howard Griffin, a white journalist, literally walked around in the skin of a Southern African American. For a year, Griffin experienced the South’s African American and white reactions to his skin color, mannerisms, and stereotypes.
At the age of 39, Griffin had already undertaken similar experiments. Once, he became temporarily blind and lived in New Orleans. When offered this new skin pigmentation experiment as a reaction to the alarmingly high suicidal tendencies among the Southern African American population, Griffin jumped on the unique opportunity.
After five days of skin pigmentation and exposure to sun lamps, Griffin was shocked at the results. After looking in the mirror for the first time he wrote, “The completeness of this transformation appalled me. It was unlike anything I had imagined. I became two men, the observing one and the one who panicked, who felt Negroid even into the depths of his entrails. I felt the beginnings of great loneliness, not because I was a Negro, but because the man I had been, the self I knew, was hidden in the flesh of another.”
Having walked through the New Orleans streets and ridden the bus as a white man and an African American man, Griffin experienced a variety of emotions. From the shoe shiner to the very same man who served him coffee, Griffin realized “the real story is the universal story of men who destroy the souls and bodies of other men for reasons neither really understands.”
Thanks to his column and his book, Black Like Me, John Howard Griffin opened the world’s eyes to the racism that surrounds us all.
Response Requirement:
5 comments:
If you wish to comment, your ID name will be your class team name and the number assigned to you in class.
On the "comment as" toolbar, choose NAME/URL.
Enter your ID and number.
No URL is necessary.
All comments will be sent to Miss Drosdick for approval.
You need not register for a Google ID.
After you submit your post, a yellow box will appear telling you your comment is awaiting moderation.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
i am guesting that he opened my eyes by changing his skin and living with African american people, he wanted to know how it feel living around them. Lili did different thing she lived with African American people, and she did not think that it was lowering your self or embarrassment
ReplyDelete“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.” This famous quote by Lee Harper mimics the experience of John Griffin in New Orleans. Griffin learned that racism is prevalent and that people are judged based on unfair things. It allowed me to see racism as an evil part of the world. People can try to move beyond racism but the negative emotions are still going to stay.
ReplyDeleteLily had a very difficult life. She had to overcome many obstacles to solve her problems. At a young age her mother died and she had to learn how to live without her. She was left to live with her father T.Ray, who was mean and abusive.
She dealt with this obstacle by running away to find somewhere new to live. She found ways to cope with her problems. She didn’t allow her problems to overcome her and she moved forward.
Racism is unlike any other thing in the world. It is a terrible thing, and it has been around for many years. John Griffin experienced something that was unlike any other. He had felt how an African Americans felt like, and how they lived. He said that from going from a white man to an African American was a huge change. It was like nothing he had never imagined. After reading this article i feel greater emotion to the lives of the people who are the victoms of racist people. Really, these people who are being made fun of because of their race are really no different then any regular person, they just look different. It is seriously not fair, and it is a huge issue in our world.
ReplyDeleteLily has crossed many chasms in her life. She has been living with no mother for years now, and she lived with her mean father T-ray who could care less about her. Also the boy who she really likes "Zach" is African American, and at that time for a white person and an African American to be dating was crazy. So you can say that Lily has had many chasms in her life.
This article about John Griffin made me realize you don't know what the someone's experiencing until you experience it. You can infer what the pain is like, but you'll never truly understand it unless you experience it firsthand like John Griffin. He got to experience both ends of racism. He got to see the world in a new meaning and people in a different way.
ReplyDeleteLily has crosses multiple chasms in her life. One chasm was dealing her mother being gone. "...but I got barred because I didn't have a mother..." Lily had to deal with not having a mother when she entered charm school at the Women's Club. Lily had to also deal with no mom to drive her to events and do her hair. Another chasm is T Ray. Lily has experienced excruciating pain from T Ray's punishments. His punishments were creative, but that would just mean pain for Lily. The chasm that Lily had to deal with during her stay at the Boatwrights was hatred. June didn't like Lily because she was white and Deborah's daughter. "She couldn't get over me working as a maid in your mother's house." June didn't like Deborah becuase August was like a slave to her and June took out the hate on Deborah then Lily.
John Howard Griffin was literally in someone else's skin. He had become a African-American as part as a stufy. The people of New Orleans treated him very differently, eventhough he was literally the same person. This is astoundishing to me because the man who has been serving John coffee for sometime now, suddenly treated him like he was trash.
ReplyDeleteLily has crossed over the chasm of being motherless to having too many mothers. What I mean by that is that she gained four mothers from losing just one. May, June, August and Rosaleen are all her mothers in their own ways. Lily also crossed over the chasm of the rule of T. Ray. Once she ran away, she didn't need to worry about his punishments or him being mad at her. Lily crossed over some chasms as she came to the Boatwright's residence.