Black Like Me

Griffin makes his way into the swampy countryside and hitchhikes. A man who has a gun in his front seat pulls up, and Griffin initially declines, but the man insists it’s for hunting and Griffin climbs in. Before long, the man is telling Griffin about how Black women perform sexual favors for jobs, how white people are doing them a favor, and that people in Alabama either kill or imprison Black people who try to stand up against any of it. Griffin feels disgusted and terrified and stays as quiet as possible. He tries to imagine what the man is like with his wife and children, reasoning that they probably know nothing of this side of him.

Griffin is then picked up by a friendly Black man who offers to bring him to his family’s home for the night. He lives in a two-room house next to a swamp, and inside, the home is alive with six young children and an optimistic wife. Griffin is treated with the utmost warmth and hospitality, and the children all kiss him goodnight before they go to bed. Griffin notes the family’s intimacy and lack of shame for their situation and that each family member seems to be full of hope and spirit.