Millionaire race conversation

In James Weldon Johnson’s “ Autobiography of an ex-colored man the central theme is about his struggles as a biracial many in the post Civil war era. During the story Johnson is met with many hardships like not knowing his father, his mother passing away and losing his wife to child birth. Though  all these struggles may seem like a great burden his greatest burden of all is his identity. Johnson lives a comfortable life passing as a white man but can’t shake the feeling of being a traitor to his African roots. During a conversation with a rich white man , who has no prejudice towards race, advice is given to Johnson that he should continue to downplay his African heritage for fear of how hard life as a black man can be.