The autobiography of an ex-colored man, James Weldon Johnson
Type
Label
The autobiography of an ex-colored man, James Weldon Johnson
Language
eng
Index
no index present
Literary Form
fiction
Main title
The autobiography of an ex-colored man
Responsibility statement
James Weldon Johnson
Summary
Known only as the "Ex-Colored Man," the protagonist in Johnson's novel is forced to choose between celebrating his African American heritage or "passing" as an average white man in a post-Reconstruction America that is rapidly changing. Narrated by a man whose light skin enables him to "pass" for white, describes a journey through the strata of Black society-- from a cigar factory in Jacksonville to an elite gambling club in New York, from genteel aristocrats to the musicians who hammered out the rhythms of ragtime. A complex and moving look at what it meant to forge an identity in a culture that recognized nothing but color
Target audience
adult
Genre
Subject
Content
Incoming Resources
- Has instance1