Today is my birthday. And Tupac’s Too.
Another June 16th human being I really love is John Howard Griffin.
I hope you already know all about this man, but if not, he was a White anti-racist who grew up in the South and wanted to do something to reach the hearts and minds of White Americans, most of whom were in denial about the conditions under which Black people lived.
Griffin conducted an experiment in 1959 that included shaving his head, darkening his skin with lamps and pharmaceuticals and living as a Black man in the deep south.
Though he endured for several weeks, he ended up cutting the experiment short, as he found that being a Black man was too difficult for him to maintain for long. He wrote a book about his experiences that made him a celebrity and (to some) a villain.
“Nothing can describe the withering horror of this. You feel lost, sick at heart before such unmasked hatred, not so much because it threatens you as because it shows humans in such an inhuman light. You see a kind of insanity, something so obscene the very obscenity of it (rather than its threat) terrifies you. It was so new I could not take my eyes from the man’s face. I felt like saying: “What in God’s name are you doing to yourself?”
“Suddenly I had had enough. Suddenly I could stomach no more of this degradation- not of myself but of all men who were black like me.”
“When all the talk, all the propaganda has been cut away, the criterion is nothing but the color of skin. My experience proved that. They judged me by no quality. My skin was dark.”
Mr. Griffin knew when he conducted his experiment he would forever be putting himself at odds with those in America who didn’t want the ugliest realities of racism to be exposed and so vividly expressed by someone White. After his book “Black Like Me” was published in 1961 he and his family received continual death threats. They left their Texas home and eventually moved to Mexico.
“John Howard Griffin was one of the most remarkable people I have ever encountered…He was just one of those guys that comes along once or twice in a century and lifts the hearts of the rest of us.” -Studs Terkel
Here is an excellent article about Griffin’s life, his experiment and his writings: JimCrowMuseum
“It seems to me that our country is involved in a kind of mass insanity where you can abuse the gift of sight in order to use it to discriminate against somebody.” – John Howard Griffin
♥ HIM !
Appreciate your words about John Howard Griffin. I will pursuing your printed
books, which I’ve read of with interest. At present I’m writing the authorized
biography of Griffin, Reluctant Activist, and published an earlier book about
Black Like Me (Man in the Mirror). It’s very nice to read intelligent and even
affectionate words about John Howard. He was my mentor and a dear friend.
Take care and peace, Robert
Thank you Robert 🙂
I consider it an honor to receive such kind feedback from the man Kirkus called, “possibly the world’s only Griffin scholar.” Thank you for sharing Griffin and his love for humanity with the world–his message is still so badly needed today. I look forward to reading Man in the Mirror, and am excited about your upcoming John Howard Griffin biography!!