<P> While in school, the narrator also grows to admire and befriends "Shiny," an unmistakably African - American boy, who is described as one of the brightest and best - spoken children in the class . </P> <P> After the narrator's mother dies, he becomes a poor orphan and subject to harsh conditions . </P> <P> He adapted very well to life with lower - class blacks and was able to move easily among the classes of black society . During this carefree period, he taught music and attended church, where he came in contact with upper - class blacks . Living in an all black community, he discovers and describes three classes of blacks: the desperate, the domestics, and the independent workmen or professionals . </P> <P> The Ex-Colored Man believed the desperate class consists of poor blacks who loathe the whites . The domestic worker class comprises blacks who work as servants to whites . And the artisans, skilled workers, and black professionals class included blacks who had little interaction with the whites . Many white readers, who viewed all blacks as a stereotype of a single class, were unfamiliar with class distinctions described among blacks . </P>

James weldon johnson autobiography of an ex colored man summary