History Main / BlackLikeMe

[[folder:Film]]

* In the comedy ''Film/SoulMan'', a Caucasian student (C. Thomas Howell)poses as an African American (by, among other things, taking self-tanning pills), in order to attend Harvard on a minority scholarship.

* In ''Film/{{Zelig}}'', the title character, in addition to being able to blend in with [[TheZelig famous celebrities]] due to a pathological need to fit in, is able to "change his race". Being Jewish, TheKlan pronounces him "a triple threat".

* In the comedy ''Film/SoulMan'', a Caucasian student poses as an African American (by, among other things, taking self-tanning pills), in order to attend Harvard on a minority scholarship.

* ''Film/SoulMan'' features C. Thomas Howell pretending to be African-American to secure a minority-only scholarship.

* ComicBook/LoisLane, Franchise/{{Superman}}'s girlfriend, notoriously changed race temporarily in a story entitled "I Am Curious (Black)". (The title references the film ''I Am Curious (Yellow)'').

* When {{ComicBook/Excalibur}} visited New York during the ''Inferno'' saga, Meggan's empathic shapeshifting caused her to look like the people in her immediate area. She became black while passing a basketball court and joined in the game, enjoying herself greatly and helping her team win. Her rapid shapeshifting stabilized on this look for awhile and she wondered if it meant anything.

* It's a well-known fact that Franchise/{{Superman}}'s pal ComicBook/JimmyOlsen makes a disturbingly attractive woman when he dresses in drag to go undercover. When he does it in UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age|of Comic Books}}, though, don't be surprised if the [[AnAesop Aesops]] he learns are more along the lines of "it can be exhausting getting hit on constantly" than "the glass ceiling is unfair."

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[[quoteright:325:[[ComicBook/SupermansGirlFriendLoisLane https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/LoisLaneBlack_8943.jpg]]]]

* In one [[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/15/virtual-body-swapping-racism_n_6328654.html?cps=gravity study]], white women were made to control a virtual reality avatar that was either white, black, or purple and then take a test for unconscious racial biases. The women embodied in the black avatars became less biased against black people in their test scores. The women who embodied white or purple avatars showed no change.

* For her book ''NickelAndDimed'', author Barbara Ehrenreich went "undercover" to see if she could survive on a minimum-wage job. She found that it was incredibly easy to "pass" as a person of low socio-economic status and, although it wasn't the main point of her book, had some interesting observations on how she was treated differently.

* In one [[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/15/virtual-body-swapping-racism_n_6328654.html?cps=gravity study]], white women were made to control a virtual reality avatar that was either white, black, or purple and then take a test for unconscious racial biases. Those who were given a black avatar scored lower than those with white or purple avatars.

* The 1947 film ''Film/GentlemansAgreement'' involves a Christian journalist going undercover and pretending to be Jewish. An interesting example in that he did not disguise himself or change his behavior in any way whatsoever -- all he did was claim to be Jewish, and start using a Jewish name -- and people treated him very differently.

* The 1947 film ''Film/GentlemansAgreement'' involves a Christian journalist going undercover and pretending to be Jewish. An interesting example in that he did not disguise himself or change his behavior in any way whatsoever -- all he did was claim to be Jewish -- and people treated him very differently.

* There are several instances of women donning hijab to go "[[IncrediblyLamePun undercover]]" as Muslim women. There is also a "Hijab Challenge" which challenges other women to do the same thing.

* ''Series/TheBrittasEmpire'': In the episode 'Stuff of Dreams', Gordon Brittas, troubled by his mortality and wanting to push age awareness, goes into the centre disguised as an old man. Naturally, this leads to a fight with another pensioner in reception and the destruction of said pensioner's glasses.
** There is also a reference to a NoodleIncident in 'The Chop' where Brittas seemed to resign, then went into a building disguised as a woman to highlight the sexism in the center.

[[quoteright:325:[[ComicBook/LoisLane https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/LoisLaneBlack_8943.jpg]]]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* One ''ComicBook/ThePunisher'' storyline saw the title character Frank Castle turn black after experimental plastic surgery and subsequently hanging out with Franchise/MarvelUniverse black hero ComicBook/{{Luke Cage|HeroForHire}}.

* In ''Film/{{Partners}}'' Ryan O'Neal is a straight cop who goes undercover as a gay man to investigate a series of murdered gay men.

[[quoteright:325:[[ComicBook/LoisLane https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/black_cover.png]]]]

Named for ''Black Like Me'' John Howard Griffin's memoir about a social experiment of this variety that he undertook on himself. Not to be confused with ColorMeBlack.

* In an episode of ''Series/ThirtyRock'', Jenna and Tracy get into an argument whether its harder to be black, or be a woman. Tracy's make-up is unconvincing.

[[folder:Video Games]]
* Used by Trish in ''[[VideoGame/DevilMayCry Devil May Cry 4]]'', where she infiltrates the Order of the Sword by posing as the AmbiguouslyBrown demon hunter Gloria. It's unclear as to whether Gloria was a completely fabricated identity, or an actual Order member [[MuggedForDisguise whom Trish replaced]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

[[folder: Film ]]

[[folder: Literature]]

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

[[folder: Video Games]]

[[folder: Web Original ]]

[[folder: Web Comics ]]
* ''Webcomic/SoreThumbs'' had Fairbanks invoking this trope by first disguising himself as a black man and then going with Cecilia to a [[TheKlan Klan]] rally where he ended up getting killed. [[spoiler: It wasn't really Fairbanks but another black man who just happened to look just like him and Fairbanks ended up with EasyAmnesia and taking the guy's place.]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Real Life ]]

* Parodied in the [[Recap/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphiaS12E01TheGangTurnsBlack the season 12 premiere of]] ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia''.

* ''Series/UndercoverBoss'' follows business owners who disguise themselves as new employees and trainees in their own corporations, usually as blue collar minimum wage workers at the last link of the chain of command. Aesops ensue after the boss learns of the domestic harships of his "coworkers" or has to deal with a bullying manager.

* In ''Film/Partners'' Ryan O'Neal is a straight cop who goes undercover as a gay man to investigate a series of murdered gay men.

* Inverted in "Film/FileUnderMiscellaneous": The main character is in the minority; he receives surgery to look more like the majority.

* One ''ComicBook/ThePunisher'' storyline saw the title character Frank Castle turn black after experimental plastic surgery and subsequently hanging out with MarvelUniverse black hero ComicBook/{{Luke Cage|HeroForHire}}.

* Morgan Spurlock's ''30 Days'' had a few episodes where he tried to live 30 days on: minimum wage, in a medium security prison, and in an [[TheRez indian reservation.]] The rest of the series comprised of having people live within a group they looked down upon, such as: a homophobic GoodOlBoy from the Midwest staying with a resident in [[{{Gayborhood}} Castro Street]]; an Islamophobic Christian man living as a Muslim; [[ImmigrantPatriotism a nativist Cuban immigrant]] from Arizona staying with an illegal immigrant Mexican family in East L.A. Also others who were encouraged to look at the other side of the argument, like: an anti gun activist living with gun enthusiasts; an avid hunter working with a an animal rights group; an abortion clinic doctor working with a pro-life organization; and several other examples.