The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man

by James Weldon Johnson, Arna (Introduction) Johnson, James Weldon; Bontemps, JOHNSON JAMES WELDON

Book Overview

Originally published in 1912, this novel was one of the first to present a frank picture of being black in America

Masked in the tradition of the literary confession practiced by such writers as St. Augustine and Rousseau, this "autobiography" purports to be a candid account of its narrator's private views and feelings as well as an acknowledgement of the central secret of his life: that though he lives as a white man, he is, by heritage...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140184023
• ISBN13: 9780140184020
• Release Date: February 1990
• Publisher: Penguin Classics
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.1" x 7.8"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

A must read

I bought the book because I had to read it for a literature class. However, once I picked it up I could not put it down. This is a very good read and I highly recommend it.

What is wrong with some of these reviewers?

This book is excellent. I read it for a class in college years and years ago... and I still think about it.

Spellbinding and relevant

For a book which was first published in 1912, this is an amazingly relevant work for today. Johnson's novel (hidden in the form of an autobiography) graphically looks at relations between the races in American. The nameless main character is born in the South to an African-American mother and a white Southern aristocrat. He and his mother move to Connecticut when he is very young, allowing Johnson to show us the benevolent face of pervasive racism of the United States. Johnson avoids the easy "good" vs. "evil" view of the oppressed vs. the oppressors. Instead, the narrator becomes a permanent outcast, returning to the South upon the death of his mother and then to the ragtime era New York City. The style of the novel is clear and extremely readable--and very current. The end of the novel dives deep into the issue of racism, causing both black and white readers to question their long-held assumptions about who they are and who they appear to be to others.

Sorely needed perspective

In most literature dealing with race relations, we get either the black perspective or the white perspective. This book is a refreshing reminder that there are shades of gray as well. Johnson's prose is very fluid and, unlike some other reviewrs, I found the story line engaging. Finally, a remark about the last line--whether or not one agrees with Johnson's assessment, it is certainly the type of statement that stays with the reader long after the book has been put down.

The Search for American Identity

Johnson's novel travels through various African-American societies (New England, Jacksonville, New York City, the Black Belt) in a story of a mulatto caught between two opposing racial identities. The novel is an epic journey (emotionally and physically) of this African-American, who is light enough to "pass" into the white American dominating the turn-of-the century. The Ex-Coloured Man's personal struggles to reconcile his true private self with his public self in a divided and prejudiced society makes this novel an emotional and enlightening read. Johnson takes up the issue of WEB DuBois's double-consciousness, and gives it life in the form of this ambivalent protagonist.