The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man

The Club, likely located in Harlem, New York City, is a symbol of Black excellence. The narrator sees several important aspects of Black culture there in the form of pictures of Black men who have been successful in the domains of sports, arts, and politics. In addition, he encounters patrons who are Black celebrities. These chance encounters allow him to feel a sense of pride as he watches such men overcome some racial constraints; that overcoming consumes much energy that the narrator comes to see as lost potential as he watches the angst of these models of Black excellence.

Another center of Black excellence in the club is the piano player, a man who has mastered ragtime. Because of the piano player’s presence, the club is an important symbol of the burgeoning musical culture that began to unfold in Northern cities. This music, along with the blues and band music, eventually gave rise to the jazz music that became the soundtrack for the Harlem Renaissance. The club is thus the ultimate symbol of the significant role music plays in the narrator’s life and self-identity.

Finally, the club and places like it (including the gambling parlor the narrator visits on his first night in New York) are symbols of the limits of migration to the North for Black migrants who fled Jim Crow to start over in the city.