https://padlet.com/brettbarinaga/p6tm6orxdzkj This padlet offers resources and context for James Weldon Johnson's Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man en-us 2018-08-07 05:33:45 UTC 2026-02-07 09:50:09 UTC hello@padlet.com brettbarinaga https://padlet.com/brettbarinaga/p6tm6orxdzkj/wish/272167794 James Weldon Johnson, born in 1871, was an author, lawyer, and civil rights activist who heavily influenced the Harlem Renaissance, and was first executive secretary for the NAACP. He wrote the novel, Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, and this resource gives a succinct and helpful background of his life.]]> 2018-08-07 05:34:02 UTC https://padlet.com/brettbarinaga/p6tm6orxdzkj/wish/272167794 brettbarinaga https://padlet.com/brettbarinaga/p6tm6orxdzkj/wish/272167922 In the novel, there is a very graphic scene where the narrator witnesses a lynching. Lynchings were a huge part of the reality in the South at the time of this novel. Understanding their nature both as a horrific crime, but also as a purposeful reiteration of the status quo is important to grasp the message being communicated in the novel. This website gives an incredibly detailed account of lynchings in America, as well as witness accounts and testimonials. ]]> 2018-08-07 05:36:09 UTC https://padlet.com/brettbarinaga/p6tm6orxdzkj/wish/272167922 brettbarinaga https://padlet.com/brettbarinaga/p6tm6orxdzkj/wish/272168134 Perhaps the largest theme touched upon in the novel is that of the color line. The narrator is a man who do to his physical appearance, traverses this line and its criteria throughout his accounts in the novel, and understanding what that line is, is vital to grasp what the novel is trying to communicate. The link and attached PDF article, discuss the origin of the term from W.E.B. Du Bois, and explore its implications today. ]]> 2018-08-07 05:39:41 UTC https://padlet.com/brettbarinaga/p6tm6orxdzkj/wish/272168134 brettbarinaga https://padlet.com/brettbarinaga/p6tm6orxdzkj/wish/272168486 Throughout the novel, the narrator encounters moments in which he is made to present himself as a white man. While his reasons for either choosing to pass or not differ throughout the novel, the implications that go along with hiding one's racial identity have a profound affect. The narrator himself struggles with this decision to the very end of the novel. This attached link is to an NPR article about very similar experiences of Black Americans who made a similar decision as the narrator, providing some incredibly useful non-fiction sources to better our understanding of the novel.]]> 2018-08-07 05:43:35 UTC https://padlet.com/brettbarinaga/p6tm6orxdzkj/wish/272168486 brettbarinaga https://padlet.com/brettbarinaga/p6tm6orxdzkj/wish/272168831 The novel takes place in the period following reconstruction, in an America intensely gripped by racial segregation and Jim Crow Laws. These laws were the status quo for Black Americans living in the South during this time, and were instituted to maintain white legal supremacy. Understanding these laws, and specifically what end those who dared to challenge them met, is vital to understanding numerous events in the novel, and how those events relate to the color line. ]]> 2018-08-07 05:52:17 UTC https://padlet.com/brettbarinaga/p6tm6orxdzkj/wish/272168831 brettbarinaga https://padlet.com/brettbarinaga/p6tm6orxdzkj/wish/272169020 The Harlem renaissance was the rapid expansion of African American culture, arts, and literary work from 1918-37, and it produced much of the literary heritage from which later civil rights leaders would be influenced. The author, James Weldon Johnson, was a profound contributor to the Harlem renaissance, and many of his ideas, and the ideas of other renaissance writer's such as W.E.B. Dubois end up being explored in this novel. This link gives a good overview of the Harlem Renaissance, and some of the important figures involved in the event. ]]> 2018-08-07 05:56:21 UTC https://padlet.com/brettbarinaga/p6tm6orxdzkj/wish/272169020 brettbarinaga https://padlet.com/brettbarinaga/p6tm6orxdzkj/wish/272169204 The narrator alongside being an avid reader, is a talented musician. During many of his travels detailed in the novel, he becomes exposed to the Ragtime music scene. The attached link details the history of ragtime as a genre, and its uniquely American context. ]]> 2018-08-07 06:01:17 UTC https://padlet.com/brettbarinaga/p6tm6orxdzkj/wish/272169204 brettbarinaga https://padlet.com/brettbarinaga/p6tm6orxdzkj/wish/272170277 Without spoiling too much about the plot for those who haven't read, at numerous points relationships between people of color and whites come into question, for example the narrators parents being of different races, and even the narrator who finds himself later involved with a white woman. What is important to note in these events is that they took place in the context of anti-miscegenation laws (race mixing) which had very harsh penalties for those who broke them, often including lynching of the non-white person involved. This link provides a historical outline of these laws and how they came into being. ]]> 2018-08-07 06:16:27 UTC https://padlet.com/brettbarinaga/p6tm6orxdzkj/wish/272170277