Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (1912) by James Weldon Johnson. Unsigned on its publication in 1912, the novel was republished in 1927 with Johnson named as author. The story is a narrative about "passing," in which a young boy learns the rules of racially identifying and being identified as an African American at the turn of the nineteenth century. Raised by his African-American mother in the North and virtually abandoned (except for economic support) by his Southern, white father, the narrator ultimately decides to allow society to consider him white. The novel offers an ironic story of self-realization that both highlights and critiques the forces of racism.

The Big Sea (1940) by Langston Hughes. The first volume of Langston Hughes' autobiographical novels, The Big Sea is a dynamic representation of learning what race means in New York, in Mexico, in the southern United States, and in Africa. The narrator...