The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man

Summary

The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, published anonymously in 1912 and republished under James Weldon Johnson's name in 1927, is a novel written in the form of a confession by a man of mixed race who has decided to live as white. The unnamed narrator grows up in Connecticut with his mother, a seamstress, and does not know that he is considered black until a teacher tells the class that he is not white. The shock changes his view of himself. A gifted pianist, he hopes to attend Atlanta University, but his money is stolen and he goes instead to Jacksonville, Florida, where he works in a cigar factory and learns about the different classes of Southern black society. He moves to New York, where he plays ragtime in clubs and becomes absorbed in the nightlife. A wealthy white patron takes him to Europe as a private pianist, and in Berlin he resolves to use ragtime and spirituals as the foundation for great classical music that will honor his race. He returns to the South to collect folk songs and hears spirituals and sermons at a camp meeting. Then he witnesses a lynching, in which a black man is burned alive by a crowd. Overcome with shame that he belongs to a people who could be treated so, he decides not to identify as black, moves to New York, works in business, and lives as a white man. He marries a white woman, who loves him after he confesses the truth; she dies young, leaving him two children. At the end he admires the men who are working for the advancement of their race and fears that he has sold his birthright for a mess of pottage. Johnson's novel explores race, identity, music and the cost of passing, and it was an important forerunner of the Harlem Renaissance. Students should be prepared for its lynching scene and the language of the period.

Top Lessons

• Identity

  The narrator's sense of himself changes when others name his race.

• Music and heritage

  He sees ragtime and spirituals as great American art.

• The cost of choices

  He gains safety and wealth but feels he has sold his birthright.

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