The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man
by James Weldon Johnson
published
2006
(first published 1912)
by Hard Press
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binding
Paperback, 83 pages
isbn
1406906387
(isbn13: 9781406906387)
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 461)
My first experience with James Weldon Johnson. Easy to read, but the name tells you the whole story in a sense. You're really only reading to see exactly how it happened for him. What the book really did is got me thinking about what "passing" looks like today. Does it still exist: "passing"? The notion of passing has since been transformed and exists in a different way. I mean it used to be something Black people who looked white did and if they were ever found out, th...more
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Read in December, 2007
A faux autobiography of a black man who could and did pass for white, Johnson's novel insists on blurring lines and calling categories into question. The narrator describes his life in detail, from his discovery as a child that he is black to his musical development, from his attempts to attend school in Atlanta to his life among the clubs and gambling dens of New York, from his travels in Europe with a wealthy white benefactor to his return to the South to embrace his blackness and become a mu...more
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This book deals with the idea of "passing" in the United States. This "autobiography" is written from the perspective of a man with mixed decent (white father and black mother), and his struggle to fit into either racial social circle. The narrator eventually succeeds in “passing” as a white male in the upper middle class of white America, and even marries a white woman but never feels satisfied in his role.
The novel was originally published with an anonymous author...more
The novel was originally published with an anonymous author...more
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I really liked readingThe Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man. It's a book about a bi-racial man who struggles to choose between Black and White. Born from a black mother and a white father, his light skin enables him to pass as a Caucasian person, yet he still has his mother's blood in him. As a child, he referred to himself as a white boy and even grew up marrying a white woman. However, he never felt "complete".
This book and the issues and ideas raised in the story helped me...more
This book and the issues and ideas raised in the story helped me...more
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wonderfully woven plot that holds your interest: i absolutely loved reading this book, and would eagerly recommend it to anyone who wants to learn of johnson's america through the eyes of a man caught between two worlds. the sometimes humorous passages and vivid details held my interest and fueled my imagination. i have countless sections of the book underlined in red.
though written years ago, it is highly relevant to life in america today, and the self-effacing nature ('invisibility') of th...more
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also one of my favore books to teach. ironically, when it was first assigned to me as an undergraduae i passed on reading it. the narrative seemed dry and the narrator's voice was not compelling. he appeared more obsessed with mastering form than delivering thought provoking content. later on as i gave more more thought to the era and conditions within which this book was written i became hooked on it, and by then the nuances of johnson's writing style also became more evident.
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1 comments
Read in September, 2008
I think without the forward, I would not have attended to the "teaching moments" during the reading. I really enjoyed the look at the life, trials, and tribulations of blacks ages ago. it was also an interesting view of life during that time period. Quick, easy read.
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Read in August, 2008
Written in 1912, this book takes you back into the mind of a half-black, half-white man during a completely different racial era. Even the language is reminiscent of the early 1900's. Fascinating and eye-opening book...heartbreaking when one reads about how the narrarator assumes "the struggles will be gone" for black americans decades later.
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Read in February, 2008
A fascinating look into the mind and experiences of an early 1900's man who is white, but born to a black mother and white father. It's very matter-of-fact in its approach, almost anthropological, focusing on the race question, during a time when it was most heated, through the eyes of someone who can pass as a white man.
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Read in August, 2007
I wish the struggles of the black man would change...they seem as present today as he writes of them in the early 1900s. Not the struggles of society but one that is more profoundly staked in the self. It is a book that I enjoyed greatly and it took me time to digest as I am a black man with pieces missing of my life
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