Griffin also exposed the ugly and dehumanizing treatment he received as a Black man, such as not being able to use public restrooms, being denied housing, having to work as a laborer for the leisure or pleasure of serving Whites, and becoming the target of brazen insults and indignities.Īfter Griffin’s book was published, it ignited a firestorm, both good and bad. In his controversial book, Griffin explains how segregation and racism reigned supreme in the South and how he was also privy to acts of Black solidarity that forever remained ingrained in his soul. Once the week was up, Griffin shaved his head, and when he looked in the mirror, a Black man stared back at him (pictured). After the journalist found a dermatologist who agreed to take part in his outlandish experiment, Griffin began the skin-darkening process by ingesting a pill daily then subjecting himself to 15 hours a day of an ultra-violet sunlamp treatment for seven days straight. Griffin’s memoir recounts the medical treatments he endured in order to darken his skin pigment. SEE ALSO: Black Conspiracy Theories 101: Did Serena Say ‘A White Man Is The Only Real Choice For A Successful Black Female?’ He chronicled his emotionally charged discoveries in his book published two years later entitled “Black Like Me.” Even though Griffin’s skin-darkening methods were perilous by today’s standards, did he in fact die of the deadliest form of skin cancer, melanoma, as a result of his experiment? Disheartened by America’s racial climate, Griffin wanted to see what life would be like as a Black man, so he concocted a daring experiment, where he would pose as one in order to understand the plight of “Negroes.” Griffin drastically darkened his skin and inconspicuously traveled throughout the rabidly racist South for nearly two months during the height of the civil rights era in 1959. When Griffin reached adulthood, he felt compelled to contribute toward ending racism, so he embarked on a journey. During his childhood, Griffin, who was Caucasian, was quickly schooled in the White supremacist ideologies of his surrounding community. John Howard Griffin (pictured) was born in 1920 in the “good ol’ boy” state of Texas.

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