John Howard Griffin wrote Black Like Me, a 1961 book documenting his experience traveling through the segregated South.
Griffin, a white journalist, temporarily darkened his skin with medication and ultraviolet treatment so he could experience life as a Black man in the American South. He traveled through states including Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia, recording encounters with segregation and racism.
The book became an influential work of reportage during the civil rights era. It is relevant to food history because segregation shaped where Black travelers could eat, sleep, shop, and obtain everyday services, helping explain the importance of Black-owned restaurants and community foodways.
The account is not a cookbook or a first-person Black memoir. It is a controversial journalistic experiment by a white writer, and that distinction matters when interpreting its perspective.