The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man

A fictional tale set in America at the turn of the 20th century, ‘The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man’ tells the story of a mixed-race man whose lighter skin allows him to pass for a white man when the need arises.

Charting his journey across the racial divides, it describes his journey from a black college kid in Jacksonville to a successful man living in the white suburbs of the Northeast.

This gripping, powerful novel is a landmark work in black American literary history, and its unsentimental look at race relations in America describes many of the racial issues that still affect the country to this day.

‘The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man’ is perfect for readers of Brit Bennett's ´The Vanishing Half´.



James Weldon Johnson, (1871-1938) was a poet, musician, writer, and diplomat. As a composer, he and his brother John Rosamond Johnson wrote ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing’, based on his poem of the same name. It later became a national anthem for many African Americans. The pair went on to write over 200 songs on Broadway.

Johnson’s writing includes the works ´The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man’ and ‘Fifty Years and Other Poems’, as well as his ground-breaking anthology ‘Book of American Negro Poetry’ and ´The Books of the American Negro Spirituals’. However, his best-known work remains the book of verse, ‘God’s Trombones’.