Summary Of The Autobiography Of An Ex-Colored Man

For years scholars have been observing the effects of white supremacy on black culture, specifically black awareness. When one takes the time to analyze the issue, one must take the time to look at and break down all of the historical, cultural and social forces that can act as confounding variable. In the case of the narrator in The Autobiography Of An Ex-Colored Man by James Weldon Johnson, there are a plethora of outside influences that shape his not only is self-identity, but also his relationship to the African diaspora. Additionally, this same logic can be applied to the main character from How To Date A Brown girl(black girl, white girl, or halfie) by Junot Diaz. However, within this literary work, this individual embarks on a different

One of the best instances of this dilemma that many blacks undergo is best illustrated in James Weldon Johnson’s novel: The Autobiography Of An Ex-Colored Man. In this novel, the main character, who is a light-skinned black man, grew up in a very sheltered environment. His mother tried to emphasize to him all throughout his childhood that he was not black. He did not understand the idea of race or blackness until he had a chance to experience the world for himself. Before one tries to jump to hasty conclusions, his mother could have done this to protect her son from all of the evils of the world. It is very important to emphasize that being black, especially during The Reconstruction era was very challenging. Blacks all throughout the union were subjected to hate and sadistic violence. If a black person, in a white person's standards, stepped out of line, they would be either harassed by the Ku Klux Klan until they left town, or even worse these individuals could be lynched. This was done in order to maintain the rigid racialized status quo of the South. Due to the constant threat of violence, just for being black, this could be a reason as to why she would try and discourage him from discovering his own identity. This approach, even though she tried to protect her son, was detrimental, because once he entered the real world, he had a very difficult time trying to

These interactions are also meant to display how diverse the African diaspora is. Once the narrator is first introduced to the diaspora, he has a very condescending reaction to the blacks who lived in Post-Antebellum Atlanta. This is best illustrated by the following quote: “..I caught my first sight of colored people in large numbers...The unkempt appearance, the shambling, the slouching gait and loud talk and laughter of these people aroused in me a feeling of almost repulsion”(pg 31) This illustrates the initial relationship he has with the black community, a very distant relationship between the two. Throughout the course of the novel, he is exposed to the wide variety of personas which are encapsulated within the diaspora. From the Cuban cigar makers in Miami to those who he encounters in Atlanta, he learns first hand how diverse the diaspora is. Through all of these interactions, he is able to develop a sense of self-identity that his mother stripped away from his years before. However, once he has a solid grasp on what it means to be black, he undergoes a very traumatic experience, one that unfortunately is apart of the “black experience; he witnesses a black man being lynched. Subsequently, following the logic of his mother, he decides to pass as being white in order to avoid persecution further from white America. In this novel,