In the novel, The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man, by James Weldon Johnson, the author attempts to express his views on the “Negro Question.” By writing in both the North and the South, as well as from the perspective of both a white man and a black man, the author is able to gain a wide array of different perspectives.

James Weldon Johnson was born in 1871, in Jacksonville, Florida. He attended segregated schools in Jacksonville until eighth grade. There were no high schools for blacks in Jacksonville, so he went to Atlanta where he continued his education. He became the first black lawyer in the state of Florida, and started the first black newspaper in the United States. Johnson used his newspaper, as well as his poems, songs, and novels to express his racial views. He was a leader among the African-American community and had a very optimistic view of racial issues.

Throughout the novel, there are many connections between the life of the protagonist and the life of Johnson. For example, both the protagonist and Johnson were or were going to be students of Atlanta University. In the novel, the protagonist is never actually able to attend the school because his money is

In reflecting on his life, the protagonist refers to covering up his heritage as a trick, a joke which no one, other than himself, knows the punch line. Occasionally, he regrets his choice. He realizes that he settled for being an average white man, as opposed to being a black man “making history and a race” (Johnson 211).

Overall, I thought that this book was pretty good. It kept me very interested at times but I also found myself rather bored at some of the dry slow moving portions of the novel. I thought that the greatest strength of this novel was the perspective that the author was able to illustrate. The author was able to illustrate the different perspectives of northerners, southerners, blacks, whites, and many other social classes, as well as racial groups.

His money being stolen greatly alters the course of his life. He is no longer able to attend school, so he goes to Jacksonville and gets a job in a cigar factory. After the factory closes, he moves to New York, where he becomes tied up in gambling, drinking, and rag-time music. He eventually learns to play rag-time and because of his skill, attracts the attention of a millionaire. The millionaire takes him on a trip around Europe and the protagonist and the millionaire become quite good friends. Eventually, the protagonist wants to return to the United States. He wants to write the music of the South and experience black culture. This is the only time in the protagonist’s life that he truly experiences his African-American roots.

This novel was somewhat ahead of its time, which is perhaps one of the reasons that it lacked initial success. The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man, was written in 1921, and while the United States had come a long way from slavery, it still had a long way to go. This novel touches on the differences in opportunity, lifestyle and culture between blacks and whites, as well as between Northerners and Southerners.

stolen. I think that Johnson not only wrote this book to express his sentiment t

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