Extracts from "Autobiogaphy of an Ex-Coloured Man"

First published anonymously in 1912, then later with James Weldon Johnson as author,
it is not, as the title suggests, an autobiography, but rather fiction fashioned as an autobiography which allows the author to talk about controversial subjects.

"Do you know, I don't object to anyone's having prejudices so long as those prejudices don't interfere with my personal liberty."

"can you name a single one of the great fundamental ..achievements which have raised man in the scale of civilization that may be credited to the Anglo-Saxon?  The art of letters, of poetry, of music, of sculpture, of painting, of philosophy, of logic, of physics, of chemistry, the use of the metals, and the principles of mechanics, were all invented or discovered by darker....races.  We [Anglo Saxons] may have carried many of these to ..perfection, but the foundation was laid by others.  Do you know the only original contribution ...we can claim is what we have done in steam and electricity and in making implements of war more deadly?...we are a great race...but we ought to remember that we are standing on a pile of past races ....  We are simply having our turn at the game, and we were a long time getting to it.  After all, racial supremacy is merely a matter of dates in history."