Racial Identity in The Autobiography of an Ex-colored Man...

Slavery was abolished after the Civil War, but the Negro race still was not accepted as equals into American society. To attain a better understanding of the events and struggles faced during this period, one must take a look at its literature. James Weldon Johnson does an excellent job of vividly depicting an accurate portrait of the adversities faced before the Civil Rights Movement by the black community in his novel â€Å"The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man.† One does not only read this book, but instead one takes a journey alongside a burdened mulatto man as he struggles to claim one race as his own. In Johnsons novel, the young mulatto boy is at first completely unaware of his unique circumstance, and lives life comfortably and†¦show more content†¦It is after this realization that one begins to see the young boy struggle with his racial identity. As time continues, the boy struggles with what to make of himself and his future. His musical aspirations begin to hold more weight in his decisions, but are still rather questionable. Whenever he seems to be making the steps to pave his future, he seems to continuously be redirected from his intended path. His inability to fully strive for a profession can be directly related to his inability to choose how he wants to be viewed, or rather who he wants to be viewed as, by society; he lacks the confidence to potentially make the â€Å"wrong decision.† The narrator becomes increasingly likely to make a career of music, and is greatly inspired by spirituals he hears at a church service. As he leaves to â€Å"settle down to work† (Johnson 133) , he witnesses a gruesome and cruel scene. A black man was to be hanged in town, but instead a white mob burns the black man alive. The narrator is terrified and scarred, committing to live his life as a white man. Shame is what the young boy now feels, for whether he lives as a white man, he is indeed a black man. Shame is responsible for the choice he made, because he wished not to be â€Å"identified with a people that could with impunity be treated worse than animals (Johnson 139). There is not one singleShow MoreRelatedThe Autobiography Of An Former Colored Man Essay2265 Words   |  10 Pages Identity communicates a strong characteristic that cannot naturally be expressed in terms of a social category. Social and personal identity enable the formation of an individual, reflecting the idea that social categories are assured with the bases of an individual’s self esteem. â€Å"Race and racial identity are identifiable as a social constriction culture† (Little and McGivern, 328). However, issuing social categories based on race or ethnicity links to biased regulations and practices. Johnson’sRead MorePassing in James Weldon Johnson’s The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man1105 Words   |  5 PagesIn 1912, The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man was anonymously published by James Weldon Johnson. 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