Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man

OK, so maybe this isn't one of the great novels of the 20th century. The canon tells me that other books are, and because of that I'm starting to become less enamored of the canon and of those who insist on pushing it -- because such a focus on the limited offerings of elite taste makers and academics causes gems like this to fall by the wayside.<br /><br />I do pay attention to the canon and use it as a guide and as a benchmark standard that fits within a larger context. The canon can't be ignored, and part of what makes it interesting is the socio-historical currents that created it. As long as we can keep that all in perspective, it's all good. Like anything that's part of this complete breakfast, it's best to take the canon with a proverbial grain of salt when confronting it -- not dismissively; that's a closed-minded approach -- and to move elsewhere as often as possible; to broaden one's reading horizons and create one's own canon. <br /><br />And when I say this I don't mean just creating a list of favorite bubblegum reads. Danielle Steel and Stephenie Meyer or the latest author of vampire/werewolf/name-any-nocturnal-supernatural-Casanova books do not belong on any canon. I'm talking about a canon that seeks alternative books that equal in literary or informational merit the ones that get on all the elite lists of the famous or acclaimed. My version of this, which is a work in progress, is a shelf of unjustly neglected or underrated books that I call <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/1248986?shelf=evans-alternative-100" rel="nofollow noopener">Evan's Alternative 100</a>.<br /><br />James Weldon Johnson's <i>The Autobiography of an Ex-colored Man</i> is one of these bafflingly neglected books that deserves more attention. Although published in 1912, a lot of what it says about the "race question" in the United States is still pertinent and timely. In some ways it seems to me to be a precursor to Ralph Ellison's <i>Invisible Man</i>, except that Johnson's light-skinned bi-racial protagonist finds invisibility in a different way, by ultimately choosing to pass for white; to enjoy the freedoms denied him whenever his true lineage is revealed.<br /><br />I have to admit, for a good while I had no idea that this was a novel. It is so convincing as an "autobiography" that I believed this to be Johnson's own story. Some of it is, from what I glean off the back cover blurb. Whatever the case, it is a book that is immediately engrossing; a remarkably evocative time capsule that whisks and immerses the reader into the world of early 20th-century America.<br /><br />The first-person narrator of the book would have to be, admittedly, one of the more fortunate black/bi-racial men of his day. He is the spawn of a black mother and a well-to-do white father who, though distant and purposefully anonymous in his parentage due to the stigma of miscegenation, at least follows through on his responsibility of financial and occasional moral support. His musical talents and curiosity are nurtured, and thus he embarks on a life odyssey in which his options are more varied and flexible than would have been the case for his more unfortunate (and blacker and poorer) "colored" brethren.<br /><br />In his observations, the narrator becomes almost like an anthropologist of his own people -- able to blend in and out of white and black society at will. What he reports in the book was probably news to a lot of white readers of the day, and a lot of it remains fascinating and enlightening even now from a historical and cultural perspective. The book gives the reader a taste of life as it was lived before 1912 in such diverse places as Atlanta and Macon, Georgia, and Jacksonville, Florida, and Connecticut and New York City and Paris and London. I found the man's various adventures as a ragtime pianist, cigar-roller, linguist, music anthropologist, urban gambler and erstwhile lover to be engaging -- putting me in places and situations I knew little or nothing about.<br /><br />The book is a vibrant and fulsomely descriptive evocation of black American life in the early 20th century and is at the same time an exuberant celebration of black culture and of the often unremarked contributions to the world of black Americans and their ancestors.<br /><br />The novel is honest, flavorful and lovingly rendered, and even with all that has come to pass it remains relevant.<br /><br />I loved nearly every word of it.<br /><br />-----<br />(KR@Ky, with some amendments made in 2016)

A well written book about the life of a black man, a man who is light enough to pass as white. He takes us through his life, moving from North to South and back again. As a young boy e believed himself to be white until an episode at school will confront him with the truth. His job in a cigar factory, promotion to a reader, something I had never heard of before. Gambling, the Harlem Renaissance, the views held by whites toward blacks and the opposite as well. Views he is well able to describe having lived as both.<br /><br />My problem with this book is that while I found it interesting, it was missing heart, emotions. The matter of fact prose, reads like a biography, related facts but not the emotions behind them. Details are given, of cigar making, gambling, music, some that went on too long in my opinion but details are not given that would lead me to the emotional center of this man. Ii missed that, it would have pulled this story together for me, I missed that connection in my reading and it kept me from rating this any higher.

<b>The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man: James Weldon Johnson's novel of race and identity</b><br><br><b> <i>"You are young, gifted, and Black. We must begin to tell our young, There's a world waiting for you, Yours is the quest that's just begun.--James Weldon Johnson</i> </b><br><br><a href="http://s1151.photobucket.com/albums/o631/mmcsullivan/?action=view&amp;current=JamesWeldonJohnson2.jpg" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"> <img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1380376389i/731200.jpg" alt="Photobucket" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"> </a><br><b>James Weldon Johnson</b><br><br>Johnson lived an extraordinary life as a writer, musician,educator, lawyer, and diplomat. Born in Jacksonville, Florida,in 1871, the son of teacher Helen Dulett and James Johnson, the head waiter at St. James Hotel, one of the early resort hotels in Jacksonville. Johnson developed his love of music and literature from his mother. His confidence to pursue a professional position was inspired by his father.<br><br><a href="http://s1151.photobucket.com/albums/o631/mmcsullivan/?action=view&amp;current=AtlantaU.jpg" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"> <img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1380376389i/731201.jpg" alt="Photobucket" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"> </a><br><b>Atlanta University</b><br><br>Johnson entered Atlanta University at age 16 and received his degree in 1894. Along with his brother, Rosamond, Johnson wrote numerous songs which were incorporated into Broadway hits of the day. Working with the Theodore Roosevelt campaign, as a Republican, Johnson composed campaign songs for Roosevelt. Upon his election Roosevelt appointed Johnson as American Consul to Puerto Rico and Venezuela. The election of Woodrow Wilson,a Virginia Democrat,ended Johnson's diplomatic career. No longer bound by the requirements of circumspection in the political world, Johnson became a civil rights activist and a founder of the NAACP.<br><br>Johnson was killed in a collision with a train at an unmarked crossing, headed for a speaking engagement. His death at the age of sixty seven brought a premature end to an extraordinary life.<br><br>Considering the quote from Johnson which serves as a preamble to this review, the subject matter of <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/130312.The_Autobiography_of_an_Ex_Colored_Man_" title="The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man by James Weldon Johnson" rel="noopener">The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man</a> concerns the life of a man from childhood through life with the knowledge that he is Black, but with the ability to pass as a white man. His conflicted opinion on whether to live safely as a white man as opposed to acknowledging his racial identity and acting to advance his own race is the theme that runs throughout Johnson's novel. The title of the book leaves no doubt as to the protagonist's final decision. It is a decision that is riddled with guilt.<br><br>The unnamed protagonist tells his story in the first person. He does not reveal the place of his birth as there are still people living there who would readily identify him. He is the product of the illicit union of a wealthy white man and his mother her served as his father's seamstress. As his father's marriage approaches, "Father" purchases tickets for our young boy and his mother for a train trip to Savannah. He has also provided steamship tickets for a one way ticket to New York. The young boy's mother establishes a career for herself as a professional seamstress and "Father" supplements the family income with monthly checks.<br><br>Johnson published the novel anonymously in 1912. The identity of the author remained secret until the dawn of the Harlem Renaissance and Weldon was revealed as its author in 1927. Prior to that, upon its initial publication debate over whether the work was in fact an autobiography or a novel was common. Johnson's realistic portrayal of the life of his protagonist undoubtedly led to the continuing debate.<br><br>As an elementary student, our young man attends an integrated school in New York. His race is imperceptible. His friends are white. He perceives the difference with which the black students are regarded by his friends and by the teachers, as well. However, a school administrator visits the class room one day, asking all the white scholars to stand. When the protagonist stands, the administrator tells him, "No, not you, sit down." From that moment, our young student's relationships with his white friends cease and he is taunted on the way home that afternoon, hearing for the first time "Nigger," and recognizes that his life in that school has been changed forever.<br><br>We follow our growing young man back to the South to attend Atlanta University. However, his funds are stolen from his trunk. His supposed friend, a railway porter, recommends that he go to Jacksonville, where he finds work in a cigar factory, first as a stripper, then a roller, and finally achieves the coveted position of "the reader" who not only keeps the cigar makers entertained with news and other reading material, but over sees and resolves disputes between workers.<br><br><a href="http://s1151.photobucket.com/albums/o631/mmcsullivan/?action=view&amp;current=TheReader.jpg" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"> <img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1380376389i/731202.jpg" alt="Photobucket" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"> </a><br><b>A Cigar Reader, turn of the 20th Century</b><br><br>A sudden close of the cigar factory leads our protagonist back to New York. It is the age of Ragtime and our man has the gift of playing it. Whites, slumming on visits to the clubs, are there for the entertainment. A millionaire retains our hero to be his private entertainer, leading to travels through Europe. Yet, our young man is conflicted and yearns to return to America, polishing his skills as a musician. His benefactor explains to him that he could pass for a white man for the rest of his life and need not return to a life of nights in the black clubs of New York. Yet, he returns.<br><br><a href="http://s1151.photobucket.com/albums/o631/mmcsullivan/?action=view&amp;current=Ragtime.jpg" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"> <img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1380376389i/731203.jpg" alt="Photobucket" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"> </a><br><b>Scott Joplin, Master of Rag-Time</b><br><br>The turning point in the ex-coloured man's decision to pass as a white man is his love of a beautiful young white woman. I leave it to the reader to discover the outcome of that romance and the protagonist's final thoughts on the consequences of being an ex-coloured man.<br><br>Johnson's narrative is keen, precise and instantly engaging. He transports the reader from small town Georgia to New York, Jacksonville, London and Paris with ease. His precision in portraying the unnamed protagonist's conflicts between race and identity resonate, at times with the edge of satire, and at others with heartrending pathos.<br><br>Truly, Johnson's anonymous work is the dawning of the Harlem Renaissance. Read this book. It's a solid 4.5 star read. Selected writings of James Weldon Johnson are available in a Library of America edition. Get it. For you won't be satisfied to leave Johnson after this one novel.<br><br>

Fascinating classic. While reading this book, I couldn’t help but be mesmerized by it. This is a time capsule. A deep look at the world through the eyes of a nameless narrator. The book was written in 1912. This book is a genuine exploration of color through the eyes of a man who seems to be able to successfully transition and adapt almost seamlessly between two worlds (Negro and White). As the narrator moves between worlds he makes observations about Negroes and White people. I think he does a pretty admirable job of characterizing without stereotyping. Amazing how much these observations are still prevalent today some 100 years later. <br /><br />This is a slice of life story where the narrator kind of stumbles through life. He has lots of adventure and intrigue and frankly some of his experiences are horrifying; however that doesn’t always come through in the writing. It felt like the book had a significant emotional detachment to it. I’m unsure whether that is the author or common to the times the book was written. <input type="checkbox" class="spoiler__control" aria-label="The following text has been marked spoiler. Toggle checkbox to reveal or hide." onchange="this.labels[0].setAttribute('aria-hidden', !this.checked);" id="84bc5c23-9c1e-4021-90ef-35cb6ebb63f7" /><label aria-hidden="true" class="spoiler" for="84bc5c23-9c1e-4021-90ef-35cb6ebb63f7">The narrator views a lynching, is rejected quite cruelly by his white father, death of his mother, finds out he is part negro in front of a class of students his age—until then he thought he was white, witnesses the brutal murder of a white woman by the hand of a black man over the narrator flirting with her, has all of his life savings stolen from him, falls madly in love twice etc </label> All of these incidents are encountered with the same emotional energy…which is to say not much energy. For me it was strange.<br /><br />This same detachment is observed in the narrator’s interactions with humans of all races. I suppose that is a natural progression if the main characteristic of the narrator is his emotional detachment. Frankly, he connects with no one. All of his interactions seem superficial. <input type="checkbox" class="spoiler__control" aria-label="The following text has been marked spoiler. Toggle checkbox to reveal or hide." onchange="this.labels[0].setAttribute('aria-hidden', !this.checked);" id="e357b138-220d-4ee3-a832-e4c52032be83" /><label aria-hidden="true" class="spoiler" for="e357b138-220d-4ee3-a832-e4c52032be83">Even when his life savings are gone and he has nothing, he’s just not phased. His description of the his love and despair when he tells his fiancé that he is part negro just isn’t full or lush. Lady gets killed that he's sitting next to...oh well on to the next. There is no distinction between the descriptions of his overwhelming love for his fiancé and his gratefulness to his benefactor. He travels the world with this man (benefactor) for several years and just wakes up one day and says I’m done, so long and thanks. And by the way what was up with the millionaire benefactor? I mean that seems as documented a case of homosexuality as I am likely to see in a mainstream book written in 1912. That is to say there was no indication of intimacy in any way between the narrator and the benefactor and yet there is no transaction either. According to the narrator, the benefactor does a tremendous amount of bankrolling and seems to care deeply for the well-being of the narrator but wants nothing in return except the opportunity to enjoy and admire the narrator’s musical talents. </label> I’m unsure if this awkwardness in human interaction is meant to be a dimension of the main character or if this is just a characteristic of the time the book was written. <br /><br />Lastly, the ending did not have the emotional impact it was supposed to in my view. <input type="checkbox" class="spoiler__control" aria-label="The following text has been marked spoiler. Toggle checkbox to reveal or hide." onchange="this.labels[0].setAttribute('aria-hidden', !this.checked);" id="017ad7a4-458c-4cd6-bb4f-56acb5653edb" /><label aria-hidden="true" class="spoiler" for="017ad7a4-458c-4cd6-bb4f-56acb5653edb">Here the narrator has traded his "blackness" in order to marry his White wife and remain respectable. The narrator laments the loss of his heritage for himself and his children, but for me it was devoid of emotion. While the ending was sad, I was unmoved because these declarations were made with the same emotional temperance as everything else in the book. I suppose he was lamenting the inability of his children to be able to experience both worlds. I don't think he was mourning the inability of his children to live as Negroes. While I understand the sentiment, he enjoyed a privilege most Negroes did not.</label> In the end, he was lamenting his loss of privilege and maybe that is why I'm not quite as sympathetic as I expected to be.<br /><br />This is a book where a lot of things happen one right after the other and yet it didn’t strike me as episodic. It flowed very naturally. Overall, I’m very happy to have read this classic and would recommend highly to everyone. The curiosity and amusement which led to my picking up the book was anthropological in nature but I also ended up just enjoying a very good and interesting story. This really is an outstanding book.<br /><br /><i>4 Stars and honestly one of the most interesting books I’ve read in quite a while</i><br />

James Weldon Johnson wrote two autobiographies, this fictional one of a character referred to only as the Ex-Colored Man, which he published anonymously in 1912, and <i>Along This Way</i>, relating his own remarkable life and career, published only four years before his tragic death in 1938, when the car he was riding in, driven by his wife, was hit by a train.<br /><br /><i>The Autobiography of An Ex-Colored Man</i> is his most famous book and it recounts the life of a biracial man born in a small town in Georgia just after the Civil War. He benefits from his black mother's nurturing and guidance, his absent white father's financial support of them both, and his innate intelligence and musical abilities. His discovery at school that he is not white shocks him and casts a shadow over his future. He can "pass" for white, however, and the main theme of the book is his struggle over whether to identify as white or black.<br /><br />Johnson was born in 1871 in Jacksonville, Florida; unlike the Ex-Colored Man, who planned to attend Atlanta University but never did, he graduated from there in 1894. Among other achievements are his admission to the Florida State Bar in 1897 as the first African-American to do so since Reconstruction, successful Broadway music career with his brother Rosamond, service as U.S. Consul to Puerto Cabello, Venezuela and Corinto, Nicaragua, appointment as first executive secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and career as professor of literature at Fisk University in Nashville and New York University.<br /><br />I highly recommend this book and plan to read Johnson's own autobiography, as well. I have to give a shout out to James K. White, whose narration of the free LibriVox audiobook I listened to was outstanding.

The writing style of the author totally alienated me. Not only did it feel dated but also detached, dry, skimpy and without feeling. I've got a wonderful word to describe it in Swedish - torftig - but nobody will understand me. When the guy telling his story falls in love, what does he say? “I love you. I love you. I love you.” C'mon give me more than that!<br /><br />I was bored silly, and I <b>shouldn’t</b> have been bored! The central topic, being black but appearing white, has so many possibilities, so much to consider and think about. This should have been interesting. How does it feel to be able to choose? What pulls you one way and what the other? What the author says about "passing" should have drawn my attention, but in this author's hands it didn’t. <br /><br />One is given details where there is no need for them and no information where one wants more. I wanted more dates, more description of the cities and countries the central character passed through (Jacksonville, Atlanta, NYC, London, Paris, Berlin), more about the figures of his times. Booker T. Washington is covered in one sentence. There is a sentence or two about John Brown and <a href="https://goodreads.com/author/show/26242.Harriet_Beecher_Stowe" title="Harriet Beecher Stowe" rel="noopener">Harriet Beecher Stowe</a>'s <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/46787.Uncle_Tom_s_Cabin" title="Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe" rel="noopener">Uncle Tom's Cabin</a>. Conversely one is given street numbers, gambling techniques, words of revival songs that EVERYONE knows. Quite simply information that should have been edited out. <br /><br />The central character transits too smoothly between completely different life styles. This lacks credibility. <br /><br />The setting is the turn of the 20th century. The central character is telling his life story. This <b>is</b> fiction, but is based on the author's and acquaintances' real life experiences. The book was first published anonymously in 1912, later published in 1927 in the author’s name. <br /><br />What is very cleverly done is how the story is told. The man telling his story interjects himself into the telling. He says he cannot state where he was born because others may find out. One has to keep reminding one’s self that this <b>is</b> fiction, that this is not a biography! It feels like a person, a person you don't know, a person on the street, any guy who might just happen to sit down next to you on a park bench sits down and starts telling you his life story. He is not a talented storyteller. He is not an author He is simply a normal person talking. But, and this also gave me trouble, he sure does philosophize. He sure thinks he knows a lot, and he has decided to tell you why he has decided to "pass". He is telling you because he needs to tell someone…..but he isn’t talented at doing it! <br /><br />The audiobook narration by Andrew Quinn was totally fine. Nothing exceptional, but not hard to follow.<br /><br />I recommend this book instead: <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/349929.Passing" title="Passing by Nella Larsen" rel="noopener">Passing</a><br />

What an extraordinary novel! It's difficult to believe such a short work can contain so much. First there is the story itself, which includes among other things a detailed and colorful explanation of the Cakewalk, the story of the rise of Ragtime, the beauty of the music of the Fisk Jubilee Singers, a rigorous defense of Gospel singing as culturally significant, an explanation of the inner workings of a cigar factory, a celebration of Uncle Remus stories before they were sullied by Walt Disney, and scenes describing gambling, fetishization of blacks by whites, and what it's like to travel overnight in the laundry closet of a Pullman car...amazing. Interlaced throughout the liveliness of the tale are ruminations about race that feel contemporary. By making his protagonist able to 'pass' for white Johnson creates a character who can move into and out of black or white culture at will. Johnson thus gives the character the perception and insight of an outsider, someone who observes and records without feeling compelled to judge. The ending is wrenching, when the protagonist realizes he has sacrificed his dreams and his ambitions and his talents, by choosing the safety and prosperity of living as a white man: "I have chosen the lesser part, that I have sold my birthright for a mess of pottage."

My husband and I read this book together, and we were both so glad we did! <br />I found it at a book sale. The book was short and the price was low. What did I have to lose?<br />This story is partly autobiographical. Published in 1912, it tells the account of a fair-skinned black man who can “pass” as white. He comes of age and moves through his young adult years, traveling quite a bit and sharing his fascinating experiences and perspective. He often shares very deep thoughts on the position and progress of black people, not long after the civil war. <br />Both my husband and I were fascinated by the main character’s experiences and thoughts. And very glad to have each other to discuss it with!<br />I didn’t know much about ragtime music, but the author made it sound so intriguing that I spent some time on YouTube educating myself! Nice bonus!

5/10<br /><br />The writing is gracious, refined, much like the protagonist, but I couldn’t get my mind around whether I liked this character or not. <br /><br />Abandoned at page 87. Skimmed the rest. The only way that this novel could work for me was if it was written ironically. I can’t be sure that it wasn’t. <br /><br />The author led a fascinating life but I’m not convinced of his standing as a fascinating writer. <br /><br />The only thing that rang true was the very last sentence, set here with its telling preamble. <br /><br /><br />“It is difficult for me to analyze my feelings concerning my present position in the world. Sometimes it seems to me that I have never really been a Negro, that I have been only a privileged spectator of their inner life; at other times I feel that I have been a coward, a deserter, and I am possessed by a strange longing for my mother's people.<br /><br />Several years ago I attended a great meeting in the interest of Hampton Institute at Carnegie Hall. The Hampton students sang the old songs and awoke memories that left me sad. Among the speakers were R.C. Ogden, ex-Ambassador Choate, and Mark Twain; but the greatest interest of the audience was centered in Booker T. Washington, and not because he so much surpassed the others in eloquence, but because of what he represented with so much earnestness and faith. And it is this that all of that small but gallant band of colored men who are publicly fighting the cause of their race have behind them. Even those who oppose them know that these men have the eternal principles of right on their side, and they will be victors even though they should go down in defeat. Beside them I feel small and selfish. I am an ordinarily successful white man who has made a little money. They are men who are making history and a race. I, too, might have taken part in a work so glorious.<br /><br />My love for my children makes me glad that I am what I am and keeps me from desiring to be otherwise; and yet, when I sometimes open a little box in which I still keep my fast yellowing manuscripts, the only tangible remnants of a vanished dream, a dead ambition, a sacrificed talent, I cannot repress the thought that, after all, I have chosen the lesser part, that I have sold my birthright for a mess of pottage.”<br /><br /><br /><br />

This is a really hard review for me to write there is just so much to say about the book and I have no idea where to start. And if I said all that I wanted to say, this review would end up a term paper instead of a simple review.<br /><br />Simply stated The Autobiography of An Ex-Colored is about a mulatto man that can pass as white. But the story is much deeper and more complex then just skin colored. Set in the early 1900's Weldon touch on a lot of issues dealing with racial prejudice and cultural identity. It's very interesting to watch the the narrator try to reconcile his racial background (black) with his appearance and upbringing. At one point in the story a "friend" of the narrator makes a comment that narrator was raised as a white man and should live his life as such, that it would be much easier for him to do so. There is a since that the narrator never really fits in anywhere, partially because of the ambiguity of his appearance and also because he really has no family or close ties. He ends up drifting through life with nothing to hold him down to one place or tie him to one group (race, family, friends, etc).<br /><br />Something that I find interesting about The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man is that the issues presented in the book are still relevant today probably even more so, given the fact that the U.S. has a black (mixed) president. It is amazing how after 113 years very little has really changed in the regards to race and culture in the US.<br /><br />The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man is not a "light" read when it comes to subject matter. But Weldon was able to pull me in and make me want to flip to the next page. I was surprised by how expertly he dealt with each topic and situation in such a short book. I think part of the reason is because that it is done in memoir form so the reader gets the feeling that they are listening to an old man reflecting on his journey through life and questioning some of the decisions that he made.