The narrator of James Weldon Johnson's The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man is a biracial man struggling with his racial identity. The narrator’s mother is an African American woman who was a seamstress for a prominent white family in Georgia. His father was the son of the family that his mother worked for. Born during Reconstruction, the narrator moves with his mother from Georgia to Connecticut, removing him from interaction with his father. During the early years of his childhood, the Ex-Colored Man identifies as white, for no one has made him aware of his racial identity. After it is revealed to him that he is black by his, his processes of understating his racial identity begins.
As the narrator struggles to find his identity, there
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are three women who influence him and his understating of himself. The first woman, his mother, is the source of his identity issue. Another woman is the Widow, a woman who demonstrates the dangers of destructive identities. The last woman is the narrator's wife, who causes him to tests his racial identity. Throughout the novel, how the narrator treats and perceives of each of these women identities are influenced by the effect they have on him and his struggle with his identity. The mother of the Ex-Colored Man is the first person to teach him about race relations. When the narrator was a child he identified as white. He spent time with the white children of his school, helped them harass their black peers, and even referred to them as “niggers” (Johnson 11). On one occasion the narrator told his mother about an incident between the white children in the "niggers" after school (Johnson 11). The are numerous ways that the narrator's mother could have responded to this information from him. One of which could have been telling the narrator that he is a black child or at least a white and black one. Instead, instructs him stop saying "nigger" and to stop bothering the black children at his school (Johnson 11). Although the Ex-Colored Man's mother does not reveal to the narrator his biracial identity, she does introduce another significant idea to him in regards to race. By telling her son to stop bothering the colored children, she teaches him to respect African Americans. Regardless of what her son identified as the narrator's mother wanted him to respect all people. However, her son does not recognize this moment as a child. Instead due to his mindset, he does not see this as her instilling respect in him. This was "the first sharp word she had ever given" him. Therefore, he did not perceive this as a lesson about race relations. Yet, this is not the only issue that would occur between him and his mother in regards to race. The narrator's mother is the source of his struggle with his racial identity. As mentioned earlier, the narrator did not inform her son that he was biracial. As a result, he learns that he is black when his schoolteacher tells him to stand with the black children (Johnson 11). This event was “a shattering moment of doubt regarding [the narrator’s] true nature” ( Wandler 587). In addition, the situation was not alleviated by his mother. Now confused by his situation the narrator asks his mother two questions: if he is a "nigger" and if he is white (Johnson 12). However, his mother does not provide clear answers to these questions. She does not tell her son if he is black or white. She tells him that he is "as good as anybody" and that the best blood of the South is in him” (Johnson 12). These do not provide her son with any insight into his racial identity. It is a “charged and ambiguous reply” (Andrade 261). Her response forces the Ex-Colored Man to examine his mother in order to find clues to his racial identity. He looks for "defects" and notices that she has brown skin and not as soft hair as him (Johnson 12). However, her response, covering her face, once again denies him of information he is searching for. In this scene, the mother had an opportunity the prevent some of the struggles that her son has with his identity. Instead, she chooses to hide from him and to further conceal information. His mother sets her son up to create and understand his identity on his own. Yet, he does not hold this against his mother. When he is older he acknowledges that no has had a greater influence on his life than his mother (Johnson 77). Yet, she was not the only woman who has a role in his struggle over his identity. The Widow introduces the narrator to a to the destructive ways in which people of different racial identities interact.
When the Ex-Colored meets the Widow, he is living as a gambler and ragtime musician in New York City. At a place called 'The Club' is where he first meets the older white woman and her black male companion who highlight the connection between race and economics (Balter 60). At the time of their meeting, the narrator identifies as a black man, and because of the nature of the Widow and her companion's relationship, he does not enjoy the sight of them together (Johnson 58). However, the Ex-Colored Man is infatuated with the Widow. She is drawn to the narrator's identity and “[becomes] so marked” with the narrator it concerns his friends (Johnson 64). The behavior of the Widow is destructive; she uses black men for her enjoyment and pleasure. Thus, what the narrator perceives as being her admiration of his “artistic temperament and skill” is instead her trying to gain him as another one of her "companions" (Johnson 65). However, the narrator uses her in a similar way. The Ex-Colored man also depends on upon the patronage of the wealthy Widow (Balter 60). Although the narrator did not financially support the narrator, she gave him affirmation. While in New York, the narrator has been exploring his black identity. He interprets the Widows attention as her approval of his identity. Moreover, the narrator believes he is justified in his use of her because she is …show more content…
also using him to make her other companion made (Johnson 65). However, this exchange between these three people teaches the narrator another lesson about racial identities. The Ex-Colored Man's time with the Widow reveals to him the dangers of participating in activities that cross racial boundaries. As mentioned earlier, the actions of the white Widow are destructive. Moreover, the narrator does not consider what the racial dynamics at play when he becomes involved with her. He, a black man, chooses to participate in dangerous behaviors with a white woman. Their behaviors result in the Widow being killed by her jealous former companion (Johnson 65). Additionally, when she is killed, the narrator flees the scene (Johnson 65). The Ex-Colored Man is a black man who has just witness another black man kill a white woman. This scene makes the narrator aware of the dangerous that interracial situations such as this one can produce. He acknowledges that there is a chance that he could face legal issues from this because he was another black man involved. Moreover, this encounter is what leads to the narrator moving to Europe where he continues to grasp with his racial identity. It is his return from this trip that he encounters another woman who challenges the narrator. The narrator's wife tests the narrator and his racial identity.
The identity of the Ex-Colored man is “performative”, and what he does at specific times aid him in determining his identity (Dobie 112). After witnessing the lynching in the South, the narrator resolves to move back to New York and “let the world take [him] for what it would]” (Johnson 99). It is in this identity, as neither a black or white man, that he meets his soon to be wife. When he meets her, the narrator marvels at how white she was (Johnson 103). After meeting her, the narrator changes in how he chooses to identify. Once he came to the conclusion that he was in love with the woman, he assumes and plays the role of a white man (Johnson 103). Meeting this stunningly white woman causes a new conflict with the narrator's racial identity. Wanting to be racially ambiguous, the Ex-Colored Man now takes on the role of a white man. The woman and the possibility of marriage have now forced the man to reject the identity that he thought he would be comfortable
with. The narrator wife reveals the insecurities that he has with his all of his racial identities. During the time that he is playing the role of a white man, the narrator fears the woman is consistently analyzing him t find a fault within him (Johnson 104). Even though she never calls out in discrepancies in him, the Ex-Colored Man still fears what his future wife will think of his identity. When the narrator and his future with meet Shiny at the museum his initial reaction was to hide (Johnson 105). He was not comfortable as either a white man or a biracial man. Although Shiny had protected his identity before, in this moment the narrator was not confident. He was constantly expecting something to occur his identity that would cause him to lose to the woman he loves. Even after the narrator reveals his biracial idenity and marries her, he still lacks confidence. During his marraige that narrator constantly fears that his wife would "discover in [him] some shortcoming " that she would attribute to his mixed race (Johnson 109). Even after the Wife accepts him, he still fears rejection because of his racial identity. As a white man he lived in constant fear, and now as a biracial man, he continues to. The narrator's wife brings out the insecurity he has with his race. As a single man his race did not affect anyone else. However, now as a married man, he fears what his racial identity means for him, his wife, and his children. The Ex-Colored Man struggles with his two racial identities. He begins his life unaware that is in this situation; however, once he does, he begins a difficult battle. The various women he interacts each contribute to the struggle that he is facing. His mother does not provide him with the guidance that he desires in order to understand his identity; resulting in him examining her and her life for answers. The Widow places him in life threatening situations because of how he chooses to identify, causing him to leave her at a critical moment. Yet, it is his wife, who he deeply loves and cherishes, that challenges his identities, and causes him to reveal his insecurities regarding his race.
Prior to the 1950s, very little research had been done on the history and nature of the United States’ policies toward and relationships with African Americans, particularly in the South. To most historians, white domination and unequal treatment of Negroes were assumed to be constants of the political and social landscapes since the nation’s conception. Prominent Southern historian C. Vann Woodward, however, permanently changed history’s naïve understanding of race in America through his book entitled The Strange Career of Jim Crow. His provocative thesis explored evidence that had previously been overlooked by historians and gave a fresh foundation for more research on the topic of racial policies of the United States.
C. Vann Woodward wrote The Strange Career of Jim Crow for a purpose. His purpose was to enlighten people about the history of the Jim Crow laws in the South. Martin Luther King Jr. called Woodward’s book, “the historical Bible of the civil rights movement.” (221) Martin Luther King Jr.’s quote revealed the true importance of Woodward’s book. Woodard’s book significance was based on it revealing the strange, forgotten facets of the Jim Crow laws. Assumptions about the Jim Crow’s career have existed since its creation. Woodward tried to eliminate the false theories as he attempted to uncover the truths. Woodward argued the strangest aspects of Jim Crow’s career were, it was a recent innovation and not created in the South
In the field of history, it is rare that an author actually comes to shape the events discussed in their writing. However, this was the case for C. Vann Woodward and his book, The Strange Career of Jim Crow. First published in 1955, it discusses this history of race relations in America, more specifically the Jim Crow laws he equates with the segregation of races. Woodward argues that segregation itself was a fairly new development within the South, and did not begin until after Reconstruction ended. He further argues that since the South has seen so much change, citing the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the development of the Jim Crow laws, it is possible for more changes to occur in a movement away from segregation. Though to a modern reader this seems like a logical argument following the events of history as they occurred, it must be remembered that Woodward was writing during the time period in which all of this was happening and nothing was certain. As William S. McFeely states in his afterword, what Woodward “so modestly stated, was, in fact, a call for the overthrow of what was perceived to be the very grounding of Southern society.” Unlike most historians, Woodward wrote about segregation and the Civil Rights Movement with such proximity that he came to affect public opinion of the time period as well as the final outcome of events. Furthermore, Woodward wrote with what we can now see to be accurate foresight as well as with a clear understanding of historical writing and the challenges it can pose.
It is impossible for anyone to survive a horrible event in their life without a relationship to have to keep them alive. The connection and emotional bond between the person suffering and the other is sometimes all they need to survive. On the other hand, not having anyone to believe in can make death appear easier than life allowing the person to give up instead of fighting for survival. In The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill, Aminata Diallo survives her course through slavery by remembering her family and the friends that she makes. Aminata is taught by her mother, Sira to deliver babies in the villages of her homeland. This skill proves to be very valuable to Aminata as it helps her deliver her friends babies and create a source of income. Aminata’s father taught Aminata to write small words in the dirt when she was small. Throughout the rest of the novel, Aminata carries this love for learning new things to the places that she travels and it inspires her to accept the opportunities given to her to learn how to write, read maps, and perform accounting duties. Early in the novel Aminata meets Chekura and they establish a strong relationship. Eventually they get married but they are separated numerous times after. Aminata continuously remembers and holds onto her times with Chekura amidst all of her troubles. CHILDREN. The only reason why Aminata Diallo does not die during her journey into and out of slavery is because she believes strongly in her parents, husband and children; therefore proving that people survive hardships only when they have relationships in which to believe.
James Weldon Johnson 's book, The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man, describes the journey throughout the early and midlife of a man who bore both Negro and white blood. He 's ethnicity wise African American but is able to "pass" in American Society as white due to his fair skin. This book examines the question of race and provides insight on what it really meant to fake an identity as a man in a culture that recognized nothing but color. In The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man, the protagonist, who is also the narrator, is never named. In the beginning of the book he announces that he 's about to reveal "the great secret of [his] life" in hopes to analyze his motives for doing it and to also be relieved of this burden (pg. 1). He
Identity in James Baldwin’s “Stranger in the Village” and Zora Neale Hurston’s “How it Feels to be Colored Me”
"...the effect is a tendency toward lighter complexions, especially among the more active elements in the race. Some might claim that this is a tacit admission of colored people among themselves of their own inferiority judged by the color line. I do not think so. What I have termed an inconsistency is, after all, most natural; it is, in fact, a tendency in accordance with what might be called an economic necessity. So far as racial differences go, the United States puts a greater premium on color, or better, lack of color, than upon anything else in the world."
In 1912, The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man was anonymously published by James Weldon Johnson. It is the narrative of a light-skinned man wedged between two racial categories; the offspring of a white father and a black mother, The Ex-Colored man is visibly white but legally classified as black. Wedged between these two racial categories, the man chooses to “pass” to the white society. In Passing: When People Can’t Be Who They Are, Brooke Kroeger describes “passing” as an act when “people effectively present themselves as other than who they understand themselves to be” (Kroeger 7). The Ex-Colored Man’s choice to ultimately “pass” at the end of the novel has been the cause of controversy amongst readers. Many claim his choice to “pass” results from racial self-hatred or rejecting his race. Although this may be true, the main reason for his choice to “pass” is more intense. The narrator’s “passing” is an effort to place himself in a safe living environment, open himself up to greater opportunities and be adventurous and cynical in his success to fool the nation. It is because of his light skin that The Ex-Colored Man confidently knows the world will categorize him as white; thus cowardly disclaiming his black race without actually disclosing his decision.
The main character is completely alienated from the world around him. He is a black man living in a white world, a man who was born in the South but is now living in the North, and his only form of companionship is his dying wife, Laura, whom he is desperate to save. He is unable to work since he has no birth certificate—no official identity. Without a job he is unable to make his mark in the world, and if his wife dies, not only would he lose his lover but also any evidence that he ever existed. As the story progresses he loses his own awareness of his identity—“somehow he had forgotten his own name.” The author emphasizes the main character’s mistreatment in life by white society during a vivid recollection of an event in his childhood when he was chased by a train filled with “white people laughing as he ran screaming,” a hallucination which was triggered by his exploration of the “old scars” on his body. This connection between alienation and oppression highlight Ellison’s central idea.
Julian, one of the main characters of the story, struggles with his identity tremendously. He viewed himself as an upright scholar that graduated from college and was not racist in any way. “True culture is in the mind, the mind, the mind…” (O’Connor, 1965). Julian believed that if he could make nice with and/or become friends with African-American people that he was not racist. On the contrary, he did not have any friends of the African-American descent nor could he engage in a meaningful conversation with an African-American person. O’Connor sets a p...
Going to Meet the Man allows readers to recongnize how a racist is built through ingnorance. Baldwin ends his story with Jesse in bed with his wife. The memories of the mutilation of the negro arise in his mind and he feels arrounsed. He turns to his wife and says, "Come on sugar, I'm going to do you like a nigger." Jesse cannot recognize that these memories of the lynching have made him sexually arroused by violence. As a result, he has become a violent man with a disturbed idea of love, sex and blacks.
Invisible Man’s history is framed by the Double Consciousness of his grandfather, his grandfather’s dying breath advises Invisible Man to “undermine the system while pretending to uphold it: ‘I want you to overcome ‘em with yeses, undermine ‘em with grins, agree‘em to death and destruction, let ‘em swoller you till they vomit or bust wide open…Learn it to the younguns.’” (29). The grandfather’s recommendation to deceive and mislead assumes a power structure where Blacks are incapable of escape and so their involvement requires a social identity separated from their genuine beliefs and feelings. Therefore, Invisible Man’s education and disposition for understanding the world comes from a culture that indicates one cannot have an actual identity. This is concerning for Invisible Man because he believes so enthusiastically in his American identity and his ability to succeed in American
To understand the narrator of the story, one must first explore Ralph Ellison. Ellison grew up during the mid 1900’s in a poverty-stricken household (“Ralph Ellison”). Ellison attended an all black school in which he discovered the beauty of the written word (“Ralph Ellison”). As an African American in a predominantly white country, Ellison began to take an interest in the “black experience” (“Ralph Ellison”). His writings express a pride in the African American race. His work, The Invisible Man, won much critical acclaim from various sources. Ellison’s novel was considered the “most distinguished novel published by an American during the previous twenty years” according to a Book Week poll (“Ralph Ellison”). One may conclude that the Invisible Man is, in a way, the quintessence Ralph Ellison. The Invisible Man has difficulty fitting into a world that does not want to see him for who he is. M...
In Ralph Ellison’s novel The Invisible man, the unknown narrator states “All my life I had been looking for something and everywhere I turned someone tried to tell me what it was…I was looking for myself and asking everyone except myself the question which I, and only I, could answer…my expectations to achieve a realization everyone else appears to have been born with: That I am nobody but myself. But first I had to discover that I am an invisible man!” (13). throughout the novel, the search for identity becomes a major aspect for the narrator’s journey to identify who he is in this world. The speaker considers himself to be an “invisible man” but he defines his condition of being invisible due to his race (Kelly). Identity and race becomes an integral part of the novel. The obsession with identity links the narrator with the society he lives in, where race defines the characters in the novel. Society has distinguished the characters in Ellison’s novel between the African and Caucasian and the narrator journey forces him to abandon the identity in which he thought he had to be reborn to gain a new one. Ellison’s depiction of the power struggle between African and Caucasians reveals that identity is constructed to not only by the narrator himself but also the people that attempt to influence. The modernized idea of being “white washed” is evident in the narrator and therefore establishes that identity can be reaffirmed through rebirth, renaming, or changing one’s appearance to gain a new persona despite their race. The novel becomes a biological search for the self due through the American Negroes’ experience (Lillard 833). Through this experience the unknown narrator proves that identity is a necessary part of his life but race c...
Well known essayist, Zora Neale Hurston, in her vivid essay How it Feels To be Colored Me, Hurston explores her identity and self-worth through recounting her experiences with whites growing up. She narrates personal anecdotes from childhood through adulthood. Hurston’s purpose is to persuade readers that the color of one’s skin does not define ones worth. She establishes an informal tone in order to create a rapport with the reader. Lowering the readers defenses such that they be receptive to her radical idea that skin color is not ones identity. Hurston uses idiomatic metaphors to establish a close harmonious relationship in which there is a common understanding between her and the reader.