American Literature / Unit 12 AML 1128 short lesson, about 20 seconds
James Weldon Johnson and *The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man*
Captions available
The idea
Born in Jacksonville to a hotel waiter and the first Black teacher in Florida, Johnson was a novelist, poet, songwriter and diplomat. His novel, published anonymously, narrates a light-skinned man's decision to pass as white and what he felt he had sold.
In practice
A novel published without a name on it.
Where people slip
Readers took the fiction for an actual memoir.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Builds on
Unlocks
Something wrong in this lesson? Flag it