The first diary entry is from the year 1959, the year when John Howard Griffin’s ideas changed drastically. John Howard was a middle-aged white man living in the American South. John is shocked to see how the African-Americans were affected by the racial remarks and by the racial conflict existing in America then.
While John is affected by this, he realizes that he will never be able to fully experience what the African-Americans are experiencing unless he transforms into one as well. John turns to one of his friends, George Levitan for help. George is the editor of a newspaper focusing on African-American issues. George warns John that he and maybe even his family will have to suffer repercussions but John is determined to do what he set to do.
George returns home and tells his wife what he had decided and his wife is supportive of his idea. John decided to maintain his identity and name and only temporary change his skin color. John travels to New Orleans to have his skin altered but notices no difference as he walks down the streets of the city. Still, as a white man, John decides to dine at a nice restaurant and watch carefully to see how he is treated and then to compare his experience to the way he will be treated as a black man.
John finds a dermatologist willing to try an experimental treatment on him but there are side effects to it as well. John begins to feel nausea and dizzy and experiences severe anxiety that is accentuated even more by the doctor’s racist attitude. John also thinks how he will find a black man to introduce him to the black community and visits the predominantly African-American neighborhoods.
The transformation takes place and John goes out for the first time as a black man. He then begins to notice the strange stares he receives and how between the blacks there is an unspoken solidarity. John manages to find a job as a shoe-shiner with the help of one of his friends and while he is shocked to see the different lives the black life, he tries to adapt himself and understand them the best he can. He learns quickly that he can’t go to the bathroom as he used to before because there are different bathrooms the whites have to use and the blacks have to use. Joe also finds that even between the black community there are problems because those who have lighter skin look down on those with dark complexions.
That night, John is followed down the streets by a white man who calls him names and taunts him. John thinks how that would have never happened if he were still a white man. John finds it difficult to find a decent job even if he is well-spoken and wears nice clothes. The realization that he can’t eat in the restaurants he used to also affects him because he knows that he will never be allowed into one as a customer.
In the park, while sitting on a bench, a white man comes suddenly to him and tells John to leave. Thinking that maybe it was prohibited for blacks to sit in the park, he leaves. John later realizes that the man wanted him gone and that was the only reason he wanted John to no longer sit on the bench. During a bus ride, the driver refuses to let John get off at the station he wanted to and so John is forced to walk back to his original destination after he is dropped off a long distance from the station he wanted to get off.
Another week passes and John still is unable to find a job. Meanwhile, he hears a story about a black man in Mississippi killed by a group of white supremacists and decides that he wants to go there next. During the trip, the bus stops in a small city to let the passengers get off, stretch their legs and use the bathroom. The black travelers, however, are forced to remain on the bus and one man urinates on the floor in protest.
When John arrives in Mississippi, he experiences, even more, hate from those around him and so he decides to ask a friend of his for help. East agrees to let John stay at his house and even goes after him. despite being friends, John feels ashamed to stay in the front seat beside East because of his skin color. At East’s home, they talk about who is to be blamed for the racist attitude in America and they reach the conclusion that the lawyers and the people at the top who pass laws that segregate the population, even more, is to blame.
East takes John to a black college and there he has the opportunity to talk with the dean. John decides to venture even further south where he discovers more shocking things. For example, he finds announcements put in the bathrooms used by the black, looking for cheap black prostitutes. He also learns that blacks are not allowed to use public beaches and that many people have an interest in finding more about them and their way of life. Many white people are nice to him, offering him rides, but John is still unable to find work. A black man takes him with his car and even takes him into his own home, sharing the food he has with John. John is able to see how the black children lived and compared their living conditions with the way his children were raised and with the things they had.
John slowly loses his hope and notices that his expression changed as well and it was similar to the one black men had while walking on the streets. John finds the power to talk with his family for the first time and he is reassured by them so he continues to travel even further.
After three weeks, John arrives in Montgomery where he decides to stop taking his medication for a while to lighten his skin. After a few days, he became white again and he noticed a great change between the way he was treated as a white man and the way he was treated as a black man. John feels contradicted, enjoying the freedom he had as a white man and yet hating the fact that he was looked at with suspicion by the black men. In a way, John feels as if he had betrayed the black community by letting his skin become white again.
John begins to shift the color of his skin and visits the same places twice to see how he will be treated. He also travels to Atlanta where he spends a few days and meets with other men who oppose racism and made efforts to fight against it, even if that meant being separated from their families. The blacks are treated slightly better in Atlanta and groups of white intellectuals begin to militate for the blacks’ rights and against segregation. Also in Atlanta, John meets a black woman who is a pianist and who traveled to Paris. The woman tells John about her experience and how she was treated as a human being on the European soil.
John decides to return to New Orleans with a white photographer he meets in Alabama and to take pictures along the way. John falls into a routine of having black skin for a few days and then interrupting his treatment for a while to let his skin return to his natural complexion after that. After a few more weeks, John gives up on his experiment and returns home to his family.
George warns John that his family will be in danger if he were to decide to publish his story but John decides to do it anyway. At home, John writes his story and publishes in a magazine devoted to black rights. Slowly, more people find about his book and John is invited to give interviews. Many of his acquaintances are proud of him but he and his family also begin to receive treats and they fear for their safety. John relies on the police in the beginning to protect them but he quickly finds that the police will do little to stop the hateful actions of the racist whites.
John is forced to flee is home after he is warned by a stranger that a group of white supremacists plans to go to his home and castrate him. After remaining for two months in his hometown, John decides that the safest option is to move with his family to Mexico for a while. When he leaves, a black child comes to him and tells him that the black community considers him as one of their own.
John ends his book by noting that no one is born racist. Rather, the society shapes the way a person thinks. John also mentions the rise in black racism, that is the appearance of black groups who have the same beliefs as the radical white groups and that hate the whites around them.
