Black Like Me

Content Warning: This section of the study guide contains detailed discussions of racism and violence motivated by racism, including references to lynching and suicide. The source material includes outdated and offensive racial terms and slurs, which are reproduced in this guide only via quotations.

The psychological effects of discrimination are obvious from the moment that Griffin steps into the world with dark skin, and they increase in severity as the days and weeks go on. Griffin experiences these effects firsthand and observes them in many of the people he meets. He mentions early in his memoir that suicidality was high among Black Americans during the 1950s due to a sense of hopelessness that pervaded the community as a result of segregation and racism. This legally sanctioned racial hierarchy in the United States established a divide between Black and white Americans, particularly as many white people refused to alter their views or actions as the fight for civil rights came to the fore.

Griffin was not prepared for the emotional and mental effects he would experience while living under segregation. He describes the impact of being on the receiving end of the n-word, which “leaps out with electric clarity” (25), as well other slurs, insults, and assaults to dignity, such as the “hate stares” that follow him and Black people wherever they go.