November 14, the day he decided to leave, was the day after the Mississippi jury refused to indict or consider the evidence in the Mack Parker kidnap-lynch murder case. After one week of trying to find work other than menial labor, he left to travel throughout the Southern states of Mississippi, Alabama, and Texas. Griffin stayed with Sterling at the shine stand for a few days to become assimilated into the society and to learn more about the attitude and mindset of the common black man. He entered black society in New Orleans through his contact Sterling, a shoe shine boy that he had met in the days prior to the medication taking full effect. John Howard Griffin began this novel as a white man on Octoand became a black man (with the help of a noted dermatologist) on November 7. After three weeks in the Deep South as a black man John Howard Griffin produced a 188-page journal covering his transition into the black race, his travels and experiences in the South, the shift back into white society, and the reaction of those he knew prior his experonce the book was published and released. His trip was financed by the internationally distributed Negro magazine Sepia in exchange for the right to print excerpts from the finished product. Due to this, Griffin felt the only way to know the truth was to become a black man and travel through the South. Since communication between the white and African American races did not exist, neither race really knew what it was like for the other. His desire to know if Southern whites were racist against the Negro population of the Deep South, or if they really judged people based on the individual’s personality as they said they prompted him to cross the color line and write Black Like Me.

He was middle aged and living in Mansfield, Texas at the time of publication in 1960.

After publication, he became a leading advocate in the Civil Rights Movement and did much to promote awareness of the racial situations and pass legislature.

Howard Griffin was a journalist and a specialist on race issues.

Griffin john howard