One of the most fascinating books I have ever read! This is the life and beliefs of a brilliant black man with white skin. It was written in the early 1900s and bespoke common sense and well thought-out theory. His mother tried to pass him as white the first several years of his life and he had no knowledge of being in any way different from his white companions. This gave him the advantage of seeing and overstanding both sides of the race issue. Having been born less than 10 years after the Civil War, there was struggle and much to defend and ponder. Lastly, he was clearly a magnificent genius, no matter what race he claimed.

Mr. Johnson explains plainly and simply the easiest way to learn a foreign language. He, himself, traveled the world and learned many languages. Mr. Johnson was also a musical genius. While in Europe, he discovered that some of his ragtime piano hits were based on heavy Classical melodies. He decided that if they could go from Classical to Ragtime, then he could rewrite Ragtime into Classical. Wow!

This book makes me sad that real thinking, inventing, evolving and producing has seemingly DIED in America. We're making video junkies of our kids. Pleeeze, everybody read this book, no matter what color your skin. And read the Goodreads Author Page for James Weldon Johnson, as well, to see all he accomplished and all the books he wrote.