Project Descriptions
Mia A. | Digital Art Collage
The creation of this project is a simplistic digital art collage piece surrounding the interpretation of The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man. The purpose of this art piece is to explain the fictional life of the ex-colored man with simplicity. Within the piece, the white scribbles on top of the young man’s face symbolizes his transition into an adult as a white man while also tying into one of the covers of the book, which displayed a scribbled sketch of a man. The quote is placed to show how being Black is not something to be ashamed of, but may be viewed as a setback within society. The text behind the young man shows the repeated text “white man” covering “black man.” The significance of this displays the ex-colored man’s future of disregarding his life as a Black man. The title demonstrates how, especially in the 1910s, what a white man may brush off an African American may see as beneficial.
Anna B. | Painting
As I was exploring the extra resources included in the Norton Critical Edition of James Weldon Johnson’s The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored man, I came across an excerpt of W.E.B. Du Bois’ The Souls of Black Folk. In sociology class, we learned about Du Bois and his focus on racism in society. I was interested in his ideas as we learned that they were not well accepted by other sociologists and writers at the time. I found the excerpt titled Of Our Spiritual Strivings especially interesting as it brought up new topics that I had never considered. The concept of double consciousness was not something I had ever thought about before. Du Bois’ writing pushed me to think about how life was at times for African Americans as they attempted to assimilate into white American culture but still preserve their African identity. As I did more research, I came upon other terms for this concept such as “twoness” or “split identity”. This idea of not having a concrete place in society, and struggling to find a balance between their two identities would prove to be extremely difficult. The situation was not helped by the pressure African Americans received from both sides to embrace that culture. Taking up both identities in America would not be successful due to the fact that one culture was considered less equal than the other by white Americans. This color line denied access to jobs, education, opportunities, and weighed heavily on the souls of the African Americans as a whole. W.E.B. Du Bois referred to this concept as a veil, which would only be lifted once whites saw Blacks as true and equal Americans. Having learned all of this, I decided to do my project as a painting conveying the struggle that the narrator went through about which identity to embrace as both cultures pulled him in their direction. The painting depicts the narrator as gray with a question mark on his face being pulled from one side by a crowd representing America, and from the other side by a crowd portraying the African Union. I painted the narrator gray because it shows how conflicted and unsure he was in choosing which culture to identify with all throughout the novel.
Emma P. | Painting
The painting I created resembles the narrator’s journey on choosing his identity between African American and white. I chose to paint a piano because he really enjoyed the piano and it played an important role in his life. The piano gave him his identity when he felt like he was nothing, he gave children lessons for money, he used it to earn money for college, and he found joy in playing for other people. Also, the keys are both black and white, but you may see that one key is gray. The gray key represents the narrator and him being mixed, while the black and white keys represent the African American and white races. Although, the piano has a more significant meaning, when you think about a piano and how beautiful it sounds, it’s because ALL of the keys are being used, not just certain notes, not just the black keys and not just the white keys. This can go for a society as well, when there are multiple races. Society will flow and work best when all races come together as one. But, if one person or one key is misplaced it won’t flow as nicely because we aren’t allowing them to be who they are. Society needs to be accepting of who that person is and allow them to be their best self. When the narrator decided he was going to be white because it was the best choice for him and his family, society was very accepting of him. The word IDENTITY on the bottom of the piano shows that the piano was his identity, when he didn’t even know who he was. It always stood out to me that his father gave him a gold coin with a drilled hole in it that he always wore around his neck. It made me think maybe he kept it because it was the only thing that he had left of his father even though he resented him. The word IDENTITY is in the color gold because of the coin. The coin may not be super significant to the plot but it stuck out to me.
Thaiton N. | Poem
Crafted in the form of an 11-stanza poem, this project highlights a continuous pattern that is present throughout The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man. Each stanza is meant to symbolize a sort of “deal” that is made in the respective chapter, where the Narrator is presented with an opportunity that is advantageous to him in some way, yet he must pay a price to reap the benefits. The first stanza depicts how the privileged life that is bestowed upon the Narrator has allowed him to live comfortably without having to deal with the hardships that stem from his African-American identity. The trade-off is that the Narrator’s innocence will be shattered in due time, as what will soon be in the inciting incident of the novel. As for the second stanza, it illustrates how the Narrator has come to find fulfillment in performing music, yet at the same time, he fails to feel excitement at seeing his father or simply even hearing the word “father,” an emphasis on the distant relationship between the two. The third stanza of the poem references how despite being given a greater sense of self-esteem in his African-American heritage through Shiny’s moving oration, the Narrator must traverse the path alone, with the death of his mother. Following this, the fourth stanza depicts the situation in which the Narrator has come to realize the opportunities that can advance him as an African-American, he has to work himself up from rock-bottom, as his savings are stolen from him. The next stanza demonstrates how the Narrator’s time in Jacksonville has widened his knowledge of how different classes of whites and African-Americans interact with each other, yet his plans to create a settled life for himself are cut short when the cigar factory shuts down. The sixth stanza reflects the Narrator’s ludicrous amounts of luck during his first tries at gambling, but the price he pays is being afflicted with overconfidence in his abilities, and a lack of foresight for the future. In the seventh stanza, the “deal” reflected in this case is that while the Narrator is able to come to a place where people of different racial identities can mingle together despite social norms at the time, he cannot take as much joy from this, knowing that in reality, the African-American culture within the “Club” is not fully respected as a true culture by the white attendees. As for the eighth stanza, the bargain made here is that the Narrator has now cultivated his ability to perform ragtime and befriended a millionaire who can provide him a stable income, at the cost of having to witness a murder now deeply ingrained into his mind. Moving on to the last three stanzas of the poem, the Narrator makes the biggest of these “deals.” The ninth stanza depicts the Narrator’s bargain to return back to America to pursue a musical career as an African-American, for a price of having to leave the millionaire, one of the few people that the Narrator has ever formed a close connection to. The tenth stanza, which follows from the climax of the novel, illustrates the Narrator’s decision which ultimately shapes it to be near akin to a Faustian bargain. In exchange for what the Narrator believes to be a chance for better treatment and less indignity, he forgoes his dreams of becoming a great African-American figure bringing glory to their race in order to pass as a white man. In the final stanza, it depicts how even in his married life, the Narrator must still bargain for what he has. For a few tranquil and contented years with his wife and being able to marry her despite his mixed identity, the Narrator pays with her premature death.
Tommy T. | Digital Vector Art
The artwork I made was created in Adobe Illustrator. I took an image of a piano and turned the major parts into vectors which I colored: one side similar to the original image and the other was a white version of the colors in the image. After that, I took an image of a person playing piano and turned the major parts into vectors which I colored, one to be a black man and the other to be a white. I did this to show the two people the narrator was in his life, the black for before the climax and the white for after. The two lives he lived were different, as his Black life was based on his ability to play the piano and his white life was based on his business and real estate investments. These two different ways of making money changed him as a Black man, he was only able to make money from his talents and friends but as a white man, he was able to go to school, invest, and own property without the limitations of being black. The darker part of his Black life reflects his choices with alcohol, cigars, and gambling which he later as a white man gives up.
Moeez S. | Critical Essay
This critical essay discusses the merits of the two versions of the resolution in Johnson’s novel. It presumes that the stronger resolution is the one that is more logical and satisfactory.
Dane G. | Critical Essay
This critical essay discusses the merits of the two versions of the resolution in Johnson’s novel. It presumes that the stronger resolution is the one that is more logical and satisfactory.
Paisley T. | Painting
Whitnall High School, Kathryn Zimpel, Honors Program
Hopes and dreams are what fuel us as humans, what breathes life into our very souls. They can be as sturdy as a concrete structure, but just as delicate as a butterfly’s wing. The book The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man illustrates quite a bit about hopes and ambitions, so to commemorate these events into one complete picture, I have painted something that I feel accurately represents the aspirations of the main character. Using a balance of negative space, I used only two colors in this piece: black and white. I felt as though using colors would not be appropriate, as any sort of color, even if it was to be more of a melancholy hue, could potentially ruin the effect which I was trying to portray. By using only white on a black canvas, it creates a hollow sort of effect, that represents the main character’s dreams being abandoned. However, they are not completely abandoned, as if it was, the piano would be near falling apart. The dream is well looked after, despite it never being followed. The main character’s yearning to play the piano again can be seen at the end of the book, as he pulls out the yellowed pages of music he once played. His dream is kept alive, but it can never be followed, and sits in his mind, occupying space and gathering dust. There is a small amount of light that shines from seemingly nowhere. This is to give the effect of an otherwise empty room, that contains nothing but the piano, and a single, dull light to illuminate it. By creating this effect, it only amplifies the feeling of regret over what could have been. While I could not quite capture the exact feeling of despair that the main character felt in the painting I made, I feel as though there is still a slight weight to this painting, as it represents what could have been, should the main character’s life turned down a different path.
Ella Radke | Digital Art
For my project, I created a new book cover. I took some aspects from the original cover and also added some of my own. The original cover was drawn abstractly. It is hard to tell exactly what is in the picture. I liked the idea of drawing people abstractly. I chose to do this because it helps portray the idea that what is on the outside, like the color of one’s skin, doesn’t matter. Throughout the book, the main character struggles with his identity. It is very important to him to figure out who he is and where he came from. In the end, he decides who he wants to be on the outside and makes a life for himself. That is why I felt it was important to show this. I drew a heart on every person to show that it is what’s on the inside that counts. On page 22 of the book, he talks about how love in boyhood is pure and romantic, and in the conclusion he says that his love for his wife and children makes him glad that he is what he is. Love is important in life and everyone needs it no matter what color they are on the outside. Another thing I added to the cover was music notes on the center person. Music is a huge part of the narrator’s life. It helps him get through every part of his life and it helps connect him to many different people. James Weldon Johnson said, “Music is a universal art; anybody’s music belongs to everybody; you can’t limit it to race or country.”