Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man

By James Weldon Johnson

Subjects: Racism and the arts, Racism, Ethnic relations, African americans, African Americans, African americans, fiction, Mulattoes, Biographies, Fiction, general, English fiction, Afro-american men, General, Fiction, historical, general, African American men, African american men, Race identity, Passing (Identity), Dans la litte rature, African American authors, Fiction, action & adventure, Afro-American men, Ps3519.o2625 a95 1995, Fiction, Noirs ame ricains, Human skin color, Racially mixed people, Classic literature, Biographies & autobiographies, American literature, Social conditions, Blacks, History, Fiction, biographical, Classic Literature, Race relations

Description: "The Auto-biography of an Ex-colored Man," by James Weldon Johnson, is the tragic fictional story of an unnamed narrator who tells the story of his coming-of-age at the beginning of the 20th century. Light-skinned enough to pass for white but emotionally tied to his mother's heritage, he ends up a failure in his own eyes after he chooses to follow the easier path while witnessing a white mob set fire to a black man. First published in 1912, "The Auto-biography of an Ex-colored Man" explores the intricacies of racial identity through the eventful life of its mixed-race narrator. Throughout the book, James Weldon Johnson's protagonist is torn between the opportunities open to him as an apparently white person and his strong sense of black identity. Though he marries a white woman, he lives a life plagued with guilt regarding his abandonment of his heritage as an African-American. James Weldon Johnson's writing is so powerful and believable that many readers took the book for a true autobiography until Johnson acknowledged his authorship in 1914."--P. [4] of cover.