The book Black Like Me, written by John Howard Griffin, is based on the author’s true story and was published as a nonfiction book in 1961. The author was an American journalist from Texas who had to get his skin dark enough to pass as a black man, shave his head, and give up his life as an employed white man to do the necessary research for this book. He states in the book that he “had spent [his] time at the doctor’s or closed up in [his] room with cotton pads over [his] eyes and the sun lam turned on [him]” (Griffin pg. 7). John Howard Griffin lived in the life of a black man for six weeks as he did his research, all the while searching for jobs and trying to prosper in his new life. This book covers his journey as a black man in society and the things he uncovered while…
When I first learned this was going to be our first assignment, I was a little bit cautious, to be honest. I’ve always been a very decisive person and thought I knew where my beliefs did and did not reside. This test, however, stays true to its word, and the word hidden has a definite reason for being in the title. As previously stated I was quite nervous going into this, but after I took the first test, I decided to take another out of curiosity. In the end, I ended up taking two tests: The Sexuality and Race IAT. These are both very tender topics, and the reason I chose them was because they don’t make an appearance too often in my daily life and was curious to see how I really felt about them. Out of the two tests, there was one result that…
As I entered homeroom, I noticed I was the only latina present and that there was only one other person of color. At first this did not bug me, but as the week went by, I realized that we were the only two non-white students in the whole middle school. This made me feel very out of place, because I had never been the only Latina at a school, so I did anything I could to fit in. I was willing to let people make me their own personal dictionary, for inappropriate language, or to translate their readings. As a person of color, I was always taught to put others before me or else I would be seen as rude and uneducated, so I complied. Throughout my life, I have witnessed that many upper class citizens take their privilege for granted; they do not…
When I was a child, my favorite movie was The Wizard of Oz. Out of all of Dorothy’s friends, the Cowardly Lion was probably my least favorite. He had gone to ask the Wizard for courage and I didn’t understand why. Others wanted tangible items such as a brain or a heart and yet he wanted courage. I had thought of courage as something that you just dug down and found within yourself when you needed it not something not just a material thing that was necessary to live like a brain or a heart. Courage is something I always felt I had within, but it was confirmed within myself when my school hit major news over racial issues.…
Education: Statistically, there are very few minorities in the science and engineering curriculums even today. Therefore, as an…
That’s interesting you’ve mentioned not to attend the hospital and funeral for your grandmother. In my African American/Indian culture if a woman is pregnant she’s prohibited to attend anywhere the death angel may currently be around, and funerals are definitely off limits. My family used to say when a life is taken a new life is born and I don’t know if the pregnant thing was an old superstation by forbidden spirit in my family as well because they believed the death angel comes to take a life in three; therefore it permits the baby a chance at life. Nowadays, there’s wills and other things in place to carry out a person’s wishes. I believe she told you because she knew she could trust you to carry out her last wishes amongst the family accordingly.…
It was a beautiful day in April, 1963, and in a store downtown there was an argument going on.…
“Wow! I did not know there were black Americans”. During the month I was in China, I heard this or a variant of it jokily said to me numerous times. I never took offense to it since I understood most of the media from America that came to China featured individuals who did not look like me. Furthermore, for those Americans who had come to China, they were mostly white and had come for business. While in China, I was able to share my experience as an African-American; I always found enjoyment sharing my experiences and it seemed to me those around me found enjoyment learning about a different side of America. With me sharing my experiences, they were being able to understand the diverse nature of the United States.…
When I was younger, I was oblivious to the world around me, I always thought life was just a really slow journey, But as I began to grow up I started to recognise, That everything I thought when I was younger were just stupid little lies. I have learnt to take every chance I get, So in the future I won’t regret. I don’t know if I have matured in my mind,…
I lived in Hollywood, FL for nine years to long. It was circumstantial how I wound up there. It was not a pleasant experience. I went to Florida niave. I thought that the blacks from different parts of the world got along. I was in for a rude awakening. My family goes back to be an American every since colonization. I felt like an outsider in America an I’m a veteran. I experienced prejudice and stereo typing from both the men an the women. I t would pain me to see how other black Americans were treated. Most of the black americans families migrated from Mississippi, Alabama and the Carolins. The majority of the Islanders lived in their own commities like Mirramor, Little Hatti and…
We all can't wait to grow up when we're young. The world is filled with all this possibility and wonder. I've been told ever since I was little that the world is my oyster; in other words, the world was completely opened to me and I could be anything I put my mind to. So I just couldn't wait to grow up. Being an adult seemed awesome and I wanted to skip over the kid stage and get to my life, start living and taking care of myself. I thought I knew it all and I was ready to prove it. I had this idea, this grand picture that I had painted in my mind of life and how it should turn out. I thought I knew it all, until the day that suddenly I didn't. They tell you to be careful what you wish for because you just might get it. Life decided it was…
Growing up I was the most naive child around. I thought the world was full of sunshine and rainbows and that everyone was nice to one another. My parents raised me to remember the three b’s: be nice, be respectful and behave. They told me I could be whatever I wanted to be and I believed that for a very long time until I hit middle school. I didn't know I was different. I didn't see a difference between myself and the other kids but in fact, I am a minority. I didn't know that race was a thing until we took one month out of the nine in which school was in session and learned about slavery. That's when I was introduced to the word that haunted my ancestors and will eventually haunt me. The word was a product of hatred that white people made to boost their…
I grew up as the ignored daughter. The first child of two very smart, diligent working class carribean immigrant parents. My parents worked tirelessly to give my sibling and I everything we needed. We never had to worry about where our next meal was comming from and we never wore hand me downs, for all intents and purposes, we were blessed. The one thing my parents passed down to us was religion. It was our way of life.…
It has been a struggle; it has consumed a decent portion of my free time, nevertheless in the end, I have become a capable, confident writer. One single person does not accomplish writing alone. Much like raising children, it takes a village to grow and develop from infancy to adulthood and I couldn’t have come this far without everyone’s help..…
I remember living in what many would consider to be the ghetto earlier in my childhood; gangs littered the streets of my small neighborhood, shady drug dealers and their drugee counterparts were in abundance, and my mom never wanted me outside. Although cops frequented my neighborhood occasionally harassing one of the teens nothing serious ever truly happened until someone brutally attacked another person over a dispute about money or something similar. I was outside at the time against my mother’s wishes playing with friends when I saw a man being chased by 2 officers, all my friends followed so I went along. Although the memory is hazy now I remember the man being tackled and beaten by the two officers for a very long time. The officers beat the man because of the length of the chase and…