Does anyone know the name of the African American novel where the author tries to pass for Caucasian?

It's not the invisible man but I can't remember the name of the book. Essentially, he is a very fair skinned man who then tries to go through life passing for white. Any real help you can offer will be appreciated. Thanks.

Does anyone know the name of the African American novel where the author tries to pass for Caucasian?
As the first two posters have said, perhaps the novel you are looking for is "Black Like Me", though it is a white man living for a period as a black person. There is a story called "The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man" that seems to better fit your description as the character must choose between a live as black or white man. I have never read this creation by J. Weldon Johnson, but its description better fits the one you provided.


If you are interested in the time period of the Harlem Renaissance, I would also like to recommend Nella Larsen's novel, "Passing". First published in 1929, it details the lives of two mulatto women and explores the shifting racial boundaries. Very interesting, short read.





Hope you take a look at Passing - Happy reading!
Reply:Didnt they make a movie with Anthony Hopkins in it? I think it was called the Human Stain
Reply:The Human Stain by Philip Roth is one novel where the lead character is a fair skinned black man considered by all who know him to be white.
Reply:Yep. Black Like Me. Read this one in 9th grade. Great book.
Reply:Considering when it was published, along with the self-perception they had at the time, it is insulting to refer to it as an "African-American" novel. First, he considered himself BLACK. Back then, we had a popular term in our culture: "Black is Beautiful." And, even though it's been 40 years, it's still true: Black is Beautiful. African American is political, in fact it's political correctness taken to an insulting, and inaccurate, degree. The term "African-American" is a misnomer at best, and an insult to ALL Americans, but especially to both Blacks and Africans, of any skin color. There are NO "hyphen-Americans." You are an American first, a Black man or woman (or Indian, or Latino, or Caucasian) second, and everything else below that. I have known so many Black people who find the term insulting and assumptive. Just because they are dark-skinned and live in the U.S., does NOT mean they are "African-American." They might not be American at all; they could be West Indian, they could be Africans from any of a number of nations on that continent. They could be Australian Aborigines, whom many PC types make the mistake of calling "African American." I don't mean to sound harsh, but if you're studying the life and culture of a Black (or *****) man in the U.S, in the '60's, you need to respect the fact that they referred to themselves in a much more accurate manner than our PC designations of today. And, those of that era are often very proud to consider themselves as Americans first, and Black people second.


And, secondly, it wasn't a novel. It was a work of life experience. A novel, by definition, is a work of fiction.


In closing, BLACK LIKE ME, as well as PASSING, mentioned below, are very well worth reading. I read both of them about 28 years ago.
Reply:I think this is the one you are referring to:


Penned by James Weldon Johnson, in 1912 The Autobiography of Ex-Coloured Man, was one of the first novels to probe the ambiguities of race, As a boy, the fictional title character is sent North with his Mother to be raised in Connecticut. He does extremely well in school and is even something of a musical prodigy.





But, he is stunned when one day in school a teacher asks the white students to stand, and scolds him when he joins them. He confronts his fair skinned mother and she reveals that she is indeed black and his father is a white Southern gentleman. His father later comes to visit, and even buys him a piano, but the child is unable to approach and deal with him.





As a young man, the death of his mother %26amp; sale of their house leaves him with a small stake %26amp; he determines to attend college. Though qualified, he rules out Harvard for financial reasons %26amp; heads back down South to attend Atlanta University. However, his stake is stolen from his boarding house room before he can register %26amp; he ends up with a job in a cigar factory.





When the factory closes, he heads North again, this time to New York City and discovers Ragtime music and shooting craps, excelling at the one %26amp; nearing ruin in the other. A white gentleman who has heard him play enters into an exclusive agreement to have him play at parties %26amp; subsequently takes him along on a tour of Europe.





Inevitably, he is drawn back to America and to music. He tours the South collecting musical knowledge so that he will be able to compose a uniquely American and Black music. But his idyll is shattered when he sees a white lynch mob burn a black man. In the wake of this experience, he decides to "pass" for white--not due to fear or discouragement, but due to "Shame at being identified with a people that could with impunity be treated worse than animals."





Abandoning his musical ambitions, he takes a job as a clerk, does well investing in real estate %26amp; meets a white woman who he wishes to marry. After examining his conscience he decides to tell her that he is black. After taking some time to confront this fact, she consents to marriage.





As the novel closes, the "ex-colored man" tells us: "My love for my children makes me glad that I am what I am, and keeps me from desiring to be otherwise; and yet, when I sometimes open a little box in which I still keep my fast yellowing manuscripts, the only tangible remnants of a vanished dream, a dead ambition, a sacrificed talent, I cannot repress the thought, that, after all, I have chosen the lesser part, that I have sold my birthright for a mess of pottage."





And the reader can't help but feel profoundly ashamed of a system of racial oppression that forced a man to make these choices.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~...





Black Like Me was not a novel. It was the autobiographical story of a white man who decided to pass himself off as a black man in order to walk a mile in his shoes. It was set up as an experiment upon which he told of his experiences.
Reply:Black Like Me, by John Howard Griffin. Amazon.com is sure to have it. Try half.com, too. Was published in the '60s, I think, so used bookstores should have it.