As history tells us that Slavery was abolished after the Civil War. Even then, African Americans were still not welcomed as equals to everyone else. One way we can better understand those struggles faced during this period is to look at its’ literature. James Weldon Johnson’s book, “Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man”, does a great job depicting an accurate account of the struggles faced in the Civil Rights Movement. In hindsight, it also reflects racial problems still facing today’s society.
In Johnson’s novel, the mixed boy has no idea of the situation he is in. He lives in peace without the oppression of the black race outside his home in Connecticut. He is a bright young man, with a keen intelligence, and has a knack for the piano. During his education he becomes drawn to a black boy, whom he names “Shiny”. Shiny and the narrator are no different from one …show more content…
His musical aspirations begin to hold more weight in his decisions, but are still rather questionable. Whenever he seems to be making the steps to pave his future, he seems to continuously be redirected from his intended path. His inability to fully strive for a profession can be directly related to his inability to choose how he wants to be viewed, or rather who he wants to be viewed as, by society; he lacks the confidence to potentially make the “wrong decision.” An example of this is shown one night as he leaves to “settle down to work” (Johnson 133). He witnesses a gruesome and cruel scene. A black man was to be hanged in town, but instead a white mob burns the black man alive. The narrator is terrified and scarred, committing to live his life as a white man. Shame is what the young boy now feels, for whether he lives as a white man, he is indeed a black man. Shame is responsible for the choice he made, because he wished not to be “identified with a people that could with impunity be treated worse than animals" (Johnson