Biography of an Ex-Colored Man
Summer Assignment - Essay
The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man
Although the Civil War left slaves under the impression that they had won their freedom, blacks were still constantly the target of discrimination and it took many years for them to finally gain equality. In James Weldon Johnson 's The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, a story is told through the eyes of a man in this troubling time, who learns in his early childhood that he is black, but with the ability to pass as a white man. Throughout his life he develops and fights a conflicted opinion: whether to live safely as a white man, or acknowledge his racial identity and act to advance his own race. Having been passed as a white by his mother the first several years of his life, with no knowledge of being in any way different from his white companions, the lines of race in America soon became blurred. This gave him the advantage of seeing and understanding both sides of the race issue. This man, half-white half-black and of very light complexion, was forced to choose between his heritage and the art that he loved and the ability to escape the inherent racism that he faced by passing as a white. This man learned about and struggles with his identity; he made his way through each of the social classes, became a linguist, and learned the tongues of the different people and through this becomes his own person. Above all, the ex-colored man realized the distorting influences in which colored men act upon in the U.S. in the post-Reconstruction era. These influences were external, a result of the societal pressures around him and the actions of others. Growing up, a half white half black boy acted as a white. His mother hided his true color from him and for his boyhood he is considered white, until later the news was broken to him. Having witnessed the racism from mere white schoolboys towards the blacks, and even taking part in some of it, he was soon treated black and was called names. Because even
The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man
Although the Civil War left slaves under the impression that they had won their freedom, blacks were still constantly the target of discrimination and it took many years for them to finally gain equality. In James Weldon Johnson 's The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, a story is told through the eyes of a man in this troubling time, who learns in his early childhood that he is black, but with the ability to pass as a white man. Throughout his life he develops and fights a conflicted opinion: whether to live safely as a white man, or acknowledge his racial identity and act to advance his own race. Having been passed as a white by his mother the first several years of his life, with no knowledge of being in any way different from his white companions, the lines of race in America soon became blurred. This gave him the advantage of seeing and understanding both sides of the race issue. This man, half-white half-black and of very light complexion, was forced to choose between his heritage and the art that he loved and the ability to escape the inherent racism that he faced by passing as a white. This man learned about and struggles with his identity; he made his way through each of the social classes, became a linguist, and learned the tongues of the different people and through this becomes his own person. Above all, the ex-colored man realized the distorting influences in which colored men act upon in the U.S. in the post-Reconstruction era. These influences were external, a result of the societal pressures around him and the actions of others. Growing up, a half white half black boy acted as a white. His mother hided his true color from him and for his boyhood he is considered white, until later the news was broken to him. Having witnessed the racism from mere white schoolboys towards the blacks, and even taking part in some of it, he was soon treated black and was called names. Because even
Bibliography: "Reconstruction Era of the United States." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 29 Aug. 2012. Web. 28 Aug. 2012. . Johnson, James Weldon. The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man. New York: Dover Publications, 1995. Print.