The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man

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The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man is a 1912 novel by James Weldon Johnson that explores race, identity, and passing in early 20th-century America through the life story of a mixed-race narrator.

All labels observed (2)

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Statements (46)

Predicate Object
instanceOf fictional autobiography
novel
author James Weldon Johnson
countryOfOrigin United States of America
surface form: United States
explores intersection of race and class in the United States
psychological cost of racial passing
tension between artistic ambition and material security
firstPublicationForm book
genre African-American literature
Bildungsroman
novel of passing
social novel
hasCharacter The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man self-linksurface differs
surface form: the Ex-Colored Man

the Ex-Colored Man’s Black mother
the Ex-Colored Man’s white father
hasLiteraryForm pseudo-autobiography
influenced later African-American novelists
initialPublicationStatus anonymously published
laterPublicationStatus republished under author’s name
literaryMovement Harlem Renaissance precursor
literarySignificance important work in the literature of the color line
key early text in African-American modernism
mainTheme Jim Crow laws
surface form: Jim Crow segregation

class and social mobility
colorism
passing for white
race
racial identity
narrativePerspective first-person
narrator unnamed mixed-race man
notableFor early exploration of racial passing in American fiction
originalLanguage English
plotElement decision to pass as white
pursuit of a musical career
witnessing a lynching
protagonistEthnicity biracial
publicationYear 1912
publisher Sherman, French & Company
republicationYear 1927
settingLocation Southern United States
surface form: American South

Europe
New York City
settingPeriod early 20th century
late 19th century
tone confessional
reflective

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Referenced by (4)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

James Weldon Johnson notableWork The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man
James Weldon Johnson wrote The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man
Weldon notableWork The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man
subject surface form: James Weldon Johnson
The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man hasCharacter The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man self-linksurface differs
this entity surface form: the Ex-Colored Man