The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (Twentieth-Century Classics)

This fictional autobiography, originally issued anonymously in order to suggest authenticity, explores the intricacies of racial identity through the eventful life of its mixed-race (and unnamed) narrator. Born in Georgia, the narrator tells of his childhood in Connecticut, where his mulatto mother, aided by monthly checks from the boy's white father, is able to provide a secure and cultured environment. Learning of his black heritage only by accident, the narrator experiences the first of several identity shifts that will eventually find him opting for membership in white society.