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46 pages 1 hour read

Black Like Me

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 1961

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Essay Topics

1.

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 The source material includes outdated and offensive racial terms and slurs, which are reproduced in this guide only via quotations.

What does Griffin’s experiment indicate about his character, particularly considering the era and places he inhabited? Why did Griffin succeed in this attempt where others may have failed or been discovered?

2.

Almost immediately after his transformation, Griffin begins to experience The Psychological Effects of Discrimination. What messages does Griffin offer about the long-term effects of discrimination and prejudice?

3.

How do Griffin’s experiences illustrate The Illusion of Racial Differences that is realized in attitudes, treatment, and policy? How does Griffin’s experiment attempt to fight this misperception?

4.

Examining the issue through the lens of Griffin’s experiences and ideas, why was the South so insistent upon keeping segregation alive? What fears, prejudices, and material incentives contributed to this ideology?

5.

In what ways does Griffin confront his own prejudice throughout the memoir? What does he learn about his own perspectives?

6.

What do the changes in Griffin’s personality and worldview indicate about The Nature of Identity and its relationship to physical appearance, particularly with regard to skin color?

7.

Why is The Relationship Between Justice and Morality so important within the civil rights movement and desegregation? In what ways do the injustices inflicted upon one person affect the many? How were Black people fighting for justice in the South at this time?

8.

How does segregation still impact American policy and culture? What strides have been made toward equality, and where do improvements still need to be made?

9.

Why were Griffin and his family met with such controversy and threats following the publication of his experiences? How is Griffin’s work still relevant to today’s discourse around social justice and equity?

10.

Why did Griffin decide to publish his experiences as a direct narrative, rather than as a statistical analysis or report? What effect is achieved by discussing racism and discrimination from the first-person perspective?

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