Customer Reviews

The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

This is not the type of book that will grab you from the beginning and hold you until the end. This is the kind of book that when you sit down to think about it, you'll find that you are, in some instances, like the Ex-Coloured Man.

I had to read this piece for a class. Upon cracking the binding, I was not impressesd. But, as I got deeper into the story, I was captivated. This is the type of work that makes you look at your life and wonder how you would respond in the same situations (and how you had responded in the past). While Johnson didn't give you dramatic build up that writers of today give, he gave an opportuinty for individual soul exploration. I believe that was the point he was trying to make.

"Autobiography of An Ex-Coloured Man" was not the greatest work ever written, but is was one of the most thought-provoking and challenging.

I found this book on the bottom shelf in my college bookcase. From the first chapter, I found myself on an old, winding, rollercoaster. James Weldon lived a life in early to mid-twentieth century more filled with extraordinary adventures than many men today. The matter that he did so 'passing' as Caucasian isn't just a coincidence. Character is what matters. . .as a reader should derive from his story; however, the matter of race devoured Weldon's every chance at completing each sweet piece of life-pie.

I cannot say more to those who never understood a Black man than to read...this...book!! You will be enlightened further than you can now imagine.

For anybody that is interested in this book, keep in mind that it was written in the 1920's. People talked, wrote, and thought very differently, and it was groundbreaking subject matter that paved the way for many other great works. This is the legacy of this book, despite it's flaws. It can be melodramatic at times, and at it's core it is a love story about a man finding racial acceptance from a source he never dreamed of. Most of the book is about a man stuck in the middle of two worlds, struggling with his own personal identity, both as a person as well as a 'person of color'. The writing is not perfect, but it is a well crafted story with fairly interesting characters, and if you are of mixed ancestry, parts of the book will speak to you in profound and comforting ways. Ways that make you realize that those of us who are mixed are not, and have not been, alone. Sorry to say, but the average review for this book tells me how little the average white person in this country really understands about racial issues. The fact that the word "mulatto" is used in the official description of this book, as well as in a consumer review furthers that. 'Mulatto' is as outdated a term as 'negro', and should not be used in 2007 America.

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

James Weldon Johnson was a man of many firsts. For me, this book was also a first. It was the first time that I had ever sat down with a book and not wanted to get up. I was thoroughly captivated by this fabulous piece of African-American literature.

Interesting approach by the author. I think, however, that there was not enough detail, as the author covered a tremendous time frame in a relatively short novel.

James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938) was an American author, politician, diplomat, critic, journalist, poet, anthologist, educator, lawyer, songwriter, civil rights activist, and leader in NAACP. He was also one of the first African-American professors at New York University, and was later a professor at Fisk University. He also wrote books such as God's Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse (Penguin Classics), Black Manhattan, Lift Ev'Ry Voice and Sing, etc.

This novel was first published anonymously in 1912, and describes the thoughts and experiences of a man whose light skin enabled him to "pass" as white. It was also the first first-person novel written by an African-American.

Here are some quotations from the book:

"I believe it to be a fact that the coloured people of this country know and understand the white people better than the white people know and understand them." (Pg. 22)
"I felt relieved, in spite of the size of the lower class. The unkempt appearance, the shambling, slouching gait and loud talk and laughter of these people aroused in me a feeling of almost repulsion." (Pg. 55-56)
"I have since learned that this ability to laugh heartily is, in part, the salvation of the American Negro; it does much to keep him from going the way of the Indian." (Pg. 56)
"The newspapers have already told how the practice of intricate cake-walk steps has taken up the time of European royalty and nobility. These are lower forms of art, but they give evidence of a power that will some day be applied to the higher forms." (Pg. 87)
"Was it more a desire to help those I considered my people, or more a desire to distinguish myself, which was leading me back to the United States? That is a question I have never definitely answered." (Pg. 147)
"(A)mong Negroes themselves there is the peculiar inconsistency of a colour question. Its existence is rarely admitted and hardly ever mentioned ... yet this influence, though silent, is constant. It is evidenced most plainly in marriage selection; thus the black men generally marry women fairer than themselves... the effect is a tendency toward lighter complexions, especially among the more active elements in the race." (Pg. 154)
"Can you name a single one of the great fundamental and original intellectual achievements which have raised man in the scale of civilization that may be credited to the Anglo-Saxon? The art of letters, of poetry, of music, of sculpture, of painting, of the drama, of architecture; the science of mathematics, of astronomy, of philosophy, of logic, of physics, of chemistry, the use of the metals, and the principles of mechanics, were all invented or discovered by darker and what we now call inferior races and nations." (Pg. 162)
"(T)he main difficulty of the race question does not lie so much in the actual condition of the blacks as it does in the mental attitude of the whites; and a mental attitude, especially one not based on truth, can be changed more easily than actual conditions." (Pg. 166)
"As yet, the Negroes themselves do not fully appreciate these old slave songs... but the day will come when this slave music will be the most treasured heritage of the American Negro." (Pg. 182)

I thought this book was great. The writing was good and the story was good, and what else can I say? It gives you insight into life. He's a good storyteller.

sorry, i just thought the book was boring and worst of all, its a good story with alot of food for thought, but it was just written so poorly that it was ruined.