James Weldon Johnson

Johnson, James Weldon. The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man. Garden City, New York: Garden City 1927.

Just a quick synopsis ----

This book is a novel, not an autobiography. The protagonist is the illegitimate African-American son of a prominent white man. He's robbed en route to college and so loses his chance to study. He's patronized by a white millionaire for his piano playing, and travels with the man to Paris -- a revelation for its culture and relative lack of racism against Africans. But he eventually tires of the (fairly) good life travelling as a sort of parlour pet, and decides to return to the US and the African-American community. After a short time he witnesses a lynching.

Eventually he drifts into passing for white. At first, he has no intention to do so permanently, but he falls in love with a white woman who's horrified at his confession of African ancestry.