John Howard Griffin

This was one guy, who during the 1950s went around convincing people he was not a white man, but rather a black. He took Oxsoralen, a drug to fight vitiligo. Plus some standing under a UV lamp and this fella got himself a brand new brown skin. Why did he go through all of this? Just to find out if the color of one's skin really mattered in the  society. Period. He even took up menial jobs that were usually left to the blacks then, to prove that he was not white. This went on for 6 weeks. He travelled with this changed identity of his throughout several American states. Soon enough, many were convinced. He went through the discrimination that the blacks went through, first hand. This six week bizarre exploration is better revealed in his book titled - Black Like Me.

I just found out about him on BBC. It has been 50 years since he has passed on it seems. A white guy went through a drastic change just to prove to people who discriminate other races how shallow, and how much a skin spoke for itself then a person's character did back then. Also, promoting his book and the things he learnt as a 'black man' caused him to be seriously injured by people against his ideals.

It is encouraging to see that things have changed over the past 50 years. :)