I happened to dive in reading and looking up materials about black people and culture after ‘Black Lives Matter’ swept through the world. Films dealing with black people’s lives and struggles such as <Green Book>, <Hidden Figures>, <Selma> are eye-openers to me, recognizing the agonies of African American lives from the slavery trade. The film <Precious>, introduced in Topic 1, also shows the ongoing adversities for the black, marginalized and discriminated against , still in the 21st century.
The book <The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man>(1912) by James Weldon Johnson is also another eye-opener to me. As you see an ironic title, the story is about a man who happened to find himself “colored”, and came to know the circumstances of black people living in the United States at the end of 19th century. The protagonist didn’t identify himself as colored because of light skin until a teacher at primary school let him stay seated when asking white students to stand. He became aware that he was a bi-racial child of black mother and white father. The incident at school changed his life full of ups and downs.
From the moment of epiphany, the protagonist experienced a total transition from white world to colored world. Only through the colored point of view was he restricted to think, behave, and speak. He toured from the U.S.A. to Europe, situationally being white or black. He became a talented pianist through his exposure to African American musical expression such as ‘ragtime’, and European classic technique. When young, he had pride in and admired the black heritage and went to the South to experience the black culture. However, after watching the racial discrimination and misearble lives of the black, he decided to pass as white, ‘ex-colored’ for his children to escape racisim.
This book broadens my understanding about racism, and black lives in the U.S. “It’s no disgrace to be black, but it’s often very inconvenient.” It is sad that it still works now.
