Soul Sister: The Story of a White Woman Who Turned Herself Black and Went to Live and Work in Harlem and Mississippi

by Grace Halsell

Grace Halsell changed the color of her skin and sojourned through Black America as a "soul sister." Few whites have had the guts to embark on such a hazardous adventure. Grace Halsell's ordeal as a black-skinned American is a unique and deeply moving story of what it is really like to be black in a white world. From Harlem to the Mississippi delta, her experiences reveal the hard and bitter truth about men and women trapped in a desperate struggle for survival, identity, and originality.

Genres: Nonfiction, Race, History, Biography, Sociology

212 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1969

About the author

The daughter of writer Harry H. Halsell, she studied at Texas Tech from 1939 to 1942, at Columbia from 1943 to 1944, at Texas Christian University from 1945 to 1951, and at the Sorbonne (Paris) from 1957 to 1958.

She worked for several newspapers between 1942 and 1965, including the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, and the Washington bureau of the Houston Post. She covered both the Korean and Vietnam Wars as a reporter, and was a White House speech writer for President Lyndon B. Johnson from 1965 to 1968. Halsell wrote thirteen books, the best-known of which was Soul Sister (1969)

Reviews

[Monia Dal Checco · Rating 2 out of 5]

Condescending at best, offending at worst. I don't think people needed a white woman to put on a black identity like it's a mask, for the sake of telling us how harsh it was to live as a black woman in the 60s. Plenty of black women had already written about it majestically.

[Elliot Ratzman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Halsell was a journalist, travel writer and LBJ speechwriter before she embarked on a series of “immersion journalism” projects. Written in ‘69, Soul Sister is the record of her attempt to reproduce Griffin’s Black Like Me—living as a black woman in Harlem and Mississippi. The premise is promising, but the execution is embarrassing. Her descriptions of Harlem are paranoid, overcooked and condescending. She is constantly referring to herself as a “soul sister”, referring to “we n***ers” without irony. Ouch! Her travels in the South are much richer since the still-operative apartheid is much more obvious. In ‘69, the bus stations, stores and public spaces are still segregated. This leads to her friendship and eventually a biography of Medger Evers’ brother Charles, a NAACP leader. She works as a maid (with scenes straight out of The Help), is almost raped by her white employer and attempts to desegregate a Church with the NAACP. It’s a messy book, but the second half is classroom usable.

[Brnsugah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am laughing at the thought of Grace Halsell "tanning" herself. Why? Because I know it to be the honest truth as she stayed with my Grandparents home, with full their full knowledge of what she was trying to accomplish. I also know this to be true because I saw her with my own eyes while visiting my Grandparents in Mississippi. My family would make the trip via car or train from San Francisco to Mississippi (what a contrast in 1968 and even now)to visit family.

I still have the autographed original copy that I have held near and dear for all of these years. I, as my forefathers before me, share our history with every generation so that they will never have to wonder.

Awesome and eye opening read.

[Sumeyye Sena · Rating 1 out of 5]

Interesting enough for me to actually finish, but read books written by black women if you want to know what the female black experience is like.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Autobiographical story of a white woman who "passed" as black in the 1960's. Made a huge impression on me as a kid in northern Iowa! Honest and gripping.

[Sarah R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m a sucker for a good undercover story.

This book was incredibly interesting. It’s the story of a successful woman reporter who medically alters the melatonin in her skin to look black. She experiences life in Harlem NYC and then, travels to the South. She writes about her experiences and thoughts

I was a little surprised at the amount of adult content in it. I was given this book when I was 13 to read by a African American Baptist pastor when I expressed interest in African American history. I didn’t read it as a child. (I was disappointed it was a biography and not a storybook) I am now 12 years older and enjoyed the book more than I would have at 13. I was surprised at how similar some of the issues we face today are with those in the 60s.

One thing I found a bit annoying is that the author clearly had no clue what living in poverty was like, which is not exclusively an African American problem. I almost feel she attributed poverty as an only African American problem based on her own experience as a successful white girl. I also felt a bit annoyed with how she came to speak of herself as a black person. (Like she would literally identify herself when speaking to the audience of the book as if she were truly black) Even though she could literally leave the situation she placed herself and go to her penthouse whenever she wanted. She actually does when her feet get infected during the story. You can not truly identify yourself with poverty, discrimination and prejudice if you have an easy escape route and can leave whenever you want.

Thought provoking read though, I may read her Indian version too.

[Mindbait]

Similar idea to John Howard Griffin's book 'Black Like Me'. Halswell was a writer who took medications and used cosmetics to make herself appear black so she could experience life as a black woman.

As I said in my review of Griffin's book, this book is maybe more eventful in that Halsell experiences worse abuses than Griffin, but at the same time Griffin's is more interesting in that he really immersed himself in black communities to tell their story as much as his own.

After the first day of walking around in Harlem she gets blisters on her feet because she's not used to so much walking, so she goes to the ER. She said the doctor yelled at her for coming in with just blisters and she goes on about how "I wonder if he treats ALL us black people like this" No! you're going into an EMERGENCY department where they are dealing to gunshot wounds, overdoses and other more EMERGENCIES. Of course they're going to feel that foot blisters are a waste of their time and a drain on their resources.

That, unfortunately sets the tone for much of the book. Halsell doesn't feel as though she tries to become part of the community she's reporting on, and seems to constantly make assumptions about people's motivations and keeps the book much more about her, instead of stepping back and reporting like Howard did.

She also keeps referring to herself and other black people as "we n***ers" which seems really distasteful, but maybe was seen as a way of being provocative and being an ally back then?

[Hamza Shafiq · Rating 4 out of 5]

It broke my heart. Moving, in all definitions of the word. Heart-shattering yet paradoxically heart-warming. Brilliantly narrated. Definitely recommended!

[Juanita Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's been a while since I read this but it was great!!! I'm putting it on my to-read list again.

[Sheela Word · Rating 5 out of 5]

About ten years after John Howard Griffin disguised himself as black and wrote about it, Grace Halsell did the same, as a woman... and found that not much had changed in the deep South. Unlike Griffin, Halsell managed to get a job from white people--but not one that would enable her to survive. Although the minimum wage was $1.65 an hour, she was paid $5.00 for 8 hours of backbreaking domestic labor. And then there was the employer who tried to rape her.

The black people she encountered were almost unfailingly respectful, kind, and helpful, offering one another an oasis in a cold, unjust world.

[Greta P Allendorf · Rating 1 out of 5]

WTF? I have so many questions.

[Cat Rayne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Exceptional writing and limited, but worthy use of metaphors. Halsell’s story is a powerful look at the 60’s race relations and while racism exists still, reading in 2019 is a reflection of just how far America has come.

Halsell bordered on condescension often, as she vacillates emotionally within racial confines. Her experience was eye opening and terrifying as many instances of being treated ‘less than’ as black reflects the psychological scaring of this human abuse.

It was never clear in the book if the intent was a self contained experience, a help to the black population, or a condemnation of the white population. Maybe it was all three, but she fell into biases and discrimination of both races. So, it ended up seeming like a vanity project instead of an honest social commentary of the time period.

[Liz Gustavson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have read Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin which was revolutionary in its time. Halsell's book and journey is as engaging as Griffin's was, and useful to see a snapshot in time of how one woman who was passing as black was treated.

[MaryAlice · Rating 4 out of 5]

I probably previously read this book in the 1970s.