Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man

by

James Weldon Johnson

Lynching Term Analysis

Broadly, extralegal killing by a mob; specifically, the organized, public murder of black people by whites, who seldom faced punishment, as a tool to impose racial terror and white supremacy during Jim Crow in the South.

Lynching Quotes in Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man

The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man quotes below are all either spoken by Lynching or refer to Lynching. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Racism and the Color Line Theme Icon
).
Chapter 10 Quotes

It was over before I realized that time had elapsed. Before I could make myself believe that what I saw was really happening, I was looking at a scorched post, a smoldering fire, blackened bones, charred fragments sifting down through coils of chain; and the smell of burnt flesh—human flesh—was in my nostrils.

Related Characters: The Narrator or “Ex-Colored Man” (speaker)
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 98
Explanation and Analysis:
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