Our Own Identity

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The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored man by James Weldon Johnson is a story about a bi-racial man’s life growing up in the post-Civil War era in the United States. The story is told from a male narrator that remains unnamed throughout the story. Johnson takes the reader on a journey with this character of whom deals with many internal struggles when trying to find his place in American society. The narrator’s struggles are not the typical struggles of an African American man during that time period nor the struggles that were faced by white men. Although racial differences in art, culture, and social classes were very real in the narrator’s life, the primary struggle he faced with his own identity is what plagued him the most and continued to plaque him throughout his lifetime. The narrator spends the first nine years of his life ignorant to racial issues and believing that he is white. He learns, rather harshly, that he is African American after the principal at his school will not allow him to stand with the rest of the white scholars in the class. The effects of this incident are made clear when Johnson states “Perhaps it had to be done, but I have never forgiven the woman who did it so cruelly. It may be that she never knew that she gave me a sword-thrust that day in school which was years in healing.” For the first time, the narrator felt what it was like to be an African American during the Reconstruction era in the United States. This new identity issue not only arises because the narrator realizes that he is African American but also because he is bi-racial and can and had passed as being white until this discovery. From this point on the narrator continues his life learning and experiencing the differences between... ... middle of paper ... ...ildren even Johnson admits “there is nothing I would not suffer to keep the brand from being placed upon them.” He may question his choices and still struggle with his identity, as we all do, but he feels he made the best decision for his life and for the lives of his children. He did not judge the men who stood the higher ground and fought the fight for equality but rather he stated “Beside them I feel small and selfish.” In truly understanding what he gave up in the choices that he made, Johnson finishes the story by stating “I cannot repress the thought that, after all, I have chosen the lesser part, that I have sold my birthright for a mess of pottage.” Works Cited Johnson, James W. "The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man." The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man by James Weldon Johnson. N.p., 09 Feb. 2004. Web. 05 Apr. 2014.

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