The Elements of Black Literature

There are several key elements that make a book black literature. Certain themes are usually present such as cyclic time rather than linear time, the struggle to overcome oppression, a desire for freedom and justice, rebellion, resistance, overcoming obstacles of social injustice, finding one's ancestors, a loss of innocence, good and evil, and many others. Motifs often have to do with animals, water, the earth, nature, and music. Characters usually have to overcome a struggle, but at the same time experience some loss. Dialogue is often used in black literature in varying degrees. Black literature is also characterized as being written by a black author and having some connection with a specifically black experience.

"The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man" begins with the story of a young boy who does not know that he is black. He has been born into a wealthy family; his mother is light-skinned and his absent father is white. From the beginning of the novel, when the Ex-Coloured Man is a schoolboy, James Weldon Johnson breaks stereotypes by making "Shiny", a dark black skinned character the most intelligent one in the class. The boy called "Red Head" who is very fair skinned is the child who has been held back several years and is not intelligent. "Red Head" gets a job in a bank eventually through his family ties, while "Shiny" has to work hard to get his job as a professor. The Ex-Coloured Man tries to go to college in the South, but loses his savings so he cannot afford to go. However, he still tries to live as a black man in the South for a while. He always seems like a spectator looking into black life and does not ever fit in, and he even has to tell those he is talking to that he is black. Eventually, The Ex-Coloured man decides that it is easier to live as a white man in the North because he is light enough to pass for white. There, he quickly and easily finds success as a white man. This is another way that James Weldon Johnson uses his characters to illustrate the belief that white people have it easy.