Ethnic and Personal Passing in the Autobiography of an Ex-colored Man
Abstract
Passing has multiple meanings in African American literature, especially in the area of personal identity in distinct races. In The Autobiography of an Ex-colored Man, James Weldon Johnson describes many aspects of passing, which mainly focus on suspicious of their individual identity and inquisitiveness between two races. Among the series of “passing,” James Weldon Johnson lay emphasis on the ethnic passing, which refers to the particular way that both black and white people used to cross the border of racial segregation, which could help them overcome the difficulties or comprehend the other races. It could be physical, emotional, or even cognitive. On the other hand, Johnson also depicts the characters’ identities passing both from black to white and white to black. This paper analyzed The autobiography of an Ex-colored Man, trying to find out the series of “passing” and their indicated meanings, which may have repercussions for how future scholars interpret this literature.
References
- Andrews, William L. Introduction. The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man. By James Weldon Johnson. New York: Penguin, 1990. vii– xvii.
- Sugimori, Masami. “Narrative Order, Racial Hierarchy, and “White” Discourse in James Weldon Johnson’s the Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man and along This Way.” MELUS: Multi-Ethnic Literature of the U.S., vol. 36, no. 3, 2011, pp. 37–62, 10.1353/mel.2011.0041. Accessed 10 Nov. 2020.
- Wald, Gayle. Crossing the Line: Racial Passing in Twentieth-Century U.S. Literature and Culture. Durham: Duke UP, 2000
- TALLY, JUSTINE. “M. Gulia Fabi, Passing and the Rise of the African American Novel (University of Illinois Press, 2001, $32.50). Pp. 187. ISBN 025 2026675.” Journal of American Studies, vol. 37, no. 1, Apr. 2003, pp. 135–177, 10.1017/s0021875803317049.
- Babu, D. . "The Theme of "Passing" in the Novels of James Weldon Johnson and Nella Larsen. " (2014).
- Goellnicht, Donald C. “Passing as Autobiography: James Weldon Johnson's The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man.” African American Review (1996); 30:17-33
- Kuenz, Jane. “American Racial Discourse, 1900-1930: Schuyler’s Black No More.” Novel 30.2 (Winter 1997)
- James Weldon Johnson. The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man. New York, Hill And Wang, 1997.
- Emma Lou Thornbrough. Booker T. Washington. Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice-Hall, 1969.
- Du Bois, W.E.B. The Souls of Black Folk. New York, Barnes & Noble Classics, 2005.11.
- Rottenberg, Catherine. “Race and Ethnicity in The autobiography of an Ex-colored Man and The Rise of David Levinsky.” Melus, 29 ( Fall/ Winter 2004) : 315-316
- Tate, Ernest Carter. The Social Implications of the Writings and the Career of James Weldon Johnson. Ann Arbor, Mich. :UMI, 1959.
- Lin, Ken-Hou;Lundquist, Jennifer.Mate Selection in Cyberspace: The Intersection of Race, Gender, and Education.[J].American Journal of Sociology,2013,Vol.119,No.1
- Martin, Charles D. “The White African American Body: A Cultural and Literary Exploration.” . New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers Univ. Press. 2002. xi, 221. Cloth, $59.00;paper,
- Leah, M. . "Race and the Literary Encounter: Black Literature from James Weldon Johnson to Percival Everett. Lesley Larkin." MELUS 4(2019):4.