Black Negro Essay Essay Research Paper In

Black Negro Essay Essay, Research Paper

In John Howard Griffin’s novel Black Like Me, Griffin travels through

many Southern American states, including Mississippi. While in

Mississippi Griffin experiences racial tension to a degree that he did

not expect. It is in Mississippi that he encounters racial

stereotypical views directed towards him, which causes him to realize

the extent of the racial prejudices that exist. Mississippi is where he

is finally able to understand the fellowship shared by many of the

Negroes of the 50’s, because of their shared experiences. Although

Griffin travels throughout the Southern States, the state of

Mississippi serves as a catalyst for the realization of what it is

truly like to be a Negro in 1959. Once in the state of Mississippi,

Griffin witnesses extreme racial tension, that he does not fully

expect. It is on the bus ride into Mississippi that Griffin first

experiences true racial cruelty from a resident of Mississippi.

It was late dusk when the bus pulled into some little

town

outside of Hatteisburg for a stop. “We get about ten minutes here,”

Bill said “let’s get off here and stretch our legs” The driver stood up

and announced “Ten minute rest stop,”. The whites rose and ambled off.

Bill and I led the Negroes toward the door. As soon as he saw us, the

driver blocked our way. Bill slipped under his arm and walked away.

“Hey boy where are you going?” the driver shouted at Bill while he

stretched his arms across the opening to prevent myself from stepping

down. I stood waiting. “Where do you think your going?” he asked, his

heavy cheeks quivering with each word. “I’d like to go to the rest

room.” I smiled and moved to step down. He tightened his grip on the

door. “Does your ticket say for you to get off here?” he asked. “No

sir, but the others…” “Then you just sit your ass down.” We turned

like a small herd of cattle and drifted back to our seats. The large

woman was apologetic, as though it embarrassed her for a stranger to

see Mississippi’s dirty linen.1(pg 63) Up to this point in the novel

Griffin experiences exactly what he expects to experience. He is

taunted with typical racial slurs, and other forms of hostility, which

he is able to brush off as meaningless ignorance. This bus driver is

denying the black customers the most basic of human needs. The bus

driver attempts to not only humiliate them by forcing them to defecate

and urinate in public on the bus, but the bus driver is also attempting

to show all of the white customers what savages that the blacks are.

Griffin never expects to receive anger and hate to this degree.

Everywhere that he goes in Mississippi is full of hatred, and spite.

As I walked down Mobile Street, a car full of white men

and

boys sped past. They yelled obscenities at me. A satsuma flew past my

head and broke against a building. The street was loud and raw, with

tension as thick as fog. I felt the insane terror of it. When I

entered the store of my second contact, we talked in low voices.

Another car roared down the street, and the street was suddenly

deserted of Negroes, but then we appeared shortly.2(Page 67) For the

first time while in Mississippi Griffin realizes that there are many

individuals, who, if given the chance, would kill him simply because he

is black. It is in Mississippi that he begins to identify with the

blacks and begins to fully see himself as a black. Had he stayed in the

more Northern states he probably would never have progressed to this

state of mind. Griffin begins to understand that part of the reason for

the hatred of blacks by many whites is because of the stereotypical

image of the Negro in the 50’s.

In Mississippi he confronts racial stereotypes directed towards

him that prompt him to realize how deeply rooted society’s

prejudices are. While trying to hitchhike through Mississippi

he encounters white men willing to pick him up only because of

their preconceived notions of Negroes.

I must have had a dozen rides that evening. They blear

into

a nightmare, the one scarcely distinguishable from the other. It

quickly became obvious why they picked me up. All but two picked me up

the way they would pick up a pornographic photograph or book-except

that this was verbal pornography. With a Negro, they assumed they need

give no semblance of self respect or respectability. The visual element

entered into it. All of the men showed morbid curiosity about the

sexual life of the Negro, and all had, at base, the same stereotyped

image of the Negro as an inexhaustible sex-machine with over-sized

genitals and vast store of experiences, immensely varied. They appeared

to think that the Negro has done all of those “special” things they

themselves have never dared to do.3(pg.85) Griffin finds that

hitchhiking at night through Mississippi is the best way to ex

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