The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man by James Weldon Johnson

First published anonymously in 1912, this novel gave many white readers their first glimpse of the double standard—and double consciousness—that ruled the lives of Black people in America. Republished in 1927, at the height of the Harlem Renaissance, with an introduction by Carl Van Vechten, The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man emerged as a groundbreaking document of African-American culture and an eloquent model for later novelists ranging from Zora Neale Hurston to Richard Wright and Ralph Ellison.

This new edition brings back the intro Henry Louis Gates wrote for our last edition, but brings back some fantastic art from the first editions- I love it!