The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man | Biography
James William Johnson was born in Jacksonville, Florida, on June 17, 1871. His father was headwaiter at an expensive restaurant, and his mother was an elementary school teacher and a gifted pianist; neither had been slaves. They saw to it that their children received a good education and lived a secure middle-class life—relatively unusual for African Americans during the nineteenth century. As a teenager, Johnson worked as a secretary to a white physician who took him to New York City and Washington, D.C., tutored him in upper-class manners, gave him books to read, and encouraged him...
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