Byline: Joshua Solomon; 1994-10-30; The Washington Post; pages C01
Report: Journalistic Acts of Race, Class, Ethnic and Gender Impersonation
Tags: Black Like Me, dyed skin, John Howard Griffin, Joshua Solomon, posed as, washington post
Article Links"In February I left my parents' house to move in with my brother in Baltimore, not wanting to have to explain my change of complexion to the neighbors. I began taking six Psorien pills a day. After four sessions at a tanning salon, my face was badly swollen and my body ached. A week or so later, my brother, Jon, and I drove home to Silver Spring for dinner. The change in my skin color must have been dramatic. My 9-year-old sister screwed her face into a horrible grimaced the first time she saw me. 'You're ugly!' she cried. I wanted o smack her but realized she was not really talking about me. . . . "
Description:Joshua Solomon attempts to recreate the experiences of John Howard Griffin's Black Like Me some 34 years later for a piece in the Washington Post.
Rights: copyright, Washington Post