James Weldon Johnson and the End of Argument in The Autobiography of an Ex–Colored Man

Throughout his career as a public figure, James Weldon Johnson promoted the idea that well-framed arguments would compel whites to dismantle segregation, outlaw lynching, and establish racial equality. But in his only work of fiction, The Autobiography of an Ex–Colored Man , Johnson explores an equally important aspect of argumentation: who gets to participate in arguments in the first place. Turning to contemporary theorists (and critics) of social contract theory, this essay argues that Johnson’s novel demonstrates that dismantling white supremacy requires not just better arguments but also structural access to argument itself.