James Weldon Johnson, The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man

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The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man

(1912) is James Weldon Johnson's only novel. First published anonymously by a small Boston publisher, the book was acknowledged by Johnson when it was reissued by a major publisher in 1927, during the Harlem Renaissance. It influenced the form and content of later African American novels by authors ranging from Johnson's contemporaries to mid-century novelists such as James Baldwin and Ralph Ellison.

Based loosely on the experiences of a boyhood friend who had passed for white, The Autobiography, as first published, purported to be the anonymous autobiography of a man who was the illegitimate son of an African American mother and a white father. The nameless protagonist is born in Georgia and grows up in Connecticut, where he is exposed to little

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Citation: Fleming, Robert E.. "The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 25 October 2002 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=1546, accessed 19 March 2024.]

1546 The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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