The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man

by James Weldon Johnson

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The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man Questions and Answers

Why doesn't James Weldon Johnson give his narrator a name in The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man?

In The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, why does the narrator repeatedly refer to the "freemasonry" of African American life?

In chapter 5 of The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, according to the narrator of the novel, there are three classes of African Americans in the South. What are they? What do his descriptions tell us about the way in which he relates to these classes of people?

Who was the intended audience in Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man?

Discuss instances of racism in James Weldon Johnson's The Autobiography of an Ex- Coloured Man.

Who is the protaganist of The Autobiography of an Ex-coloured Man?  

Consider the ending of the book The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man and provide an analysis of the last paragraph. How does the narrator represent himself at the end of the novel? How does he view African Americans? How does the ending reflect upon issues of race in America? What is your critique of this novel as a work of art?

Explain how might we think of The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man by James Weldon Johnson as a queer text.

Why was acceptance important to the main character?

Discuss the narrator’s second trip to the South. Analyze his discussion of the revival that he witnesses. What is his relationship to this revival? Why do you think that this scene is in the narrative?

In James Weldon Johnson's novel The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man, what was the ex-colored man's boyhood ambition, and how did he plan to achieve that ambition?

Does this book ultimately show any drawbacks of passing for white or is the narrator's experiences all positive?

What does the line, "The ability to laugh heartily is, in part, the salvation of the American Negro; it does much to keep him from going the way of the Indian" mean in the novel The Autobiography of the ex-Coloured Man? 

Why does the narrator give up his musical ambitions in favor of making money in The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man?