As an experimental work of Modernism and the Harlem Renaissance alike, the novel plays with several different genres. It is ostensibly an autobiography but, in reality, is a novel. While the narrator and events of the novel are fictional, Johnson first published it anonymously so that readers encountered it as if it were a true autobiography of a Black American who had chosen to pass as white. In this way, the novel positions itself as a successor to earlier autobiographical writings by Black people, including Olaudah Equiano, Frederick Douglass, Solomon Northrup, and Harriet Jacobs. Whereas these earlier autobiographies focused on their authors' enslavement and struggle for freedom, The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man was an "autobiography" for a new age in the struggle for Black people's civil rights. It tells the story of a man who, though he was born after the official end of slavery, still struggles to find a place for himself in a highly segregated society.
Like some of these earlier autobiographies, the novel includes some of the conventions of the Bildungsroman (novel of development). The narrator begins with the story of his childhood, and he describes his own coming of age and realization that the world is not set up for his success. Similar to many Bildungsromans, the novel raises some questions as to whether the narrator is successful in overcoming adversity.
The novel is also an example of a picaresque. One of the most famous examples of this genre is Don Quixote. Books in this genre describe a protagonist's episodic and often outlandish adventures. The hero is generally lovable and a bit foolish, stumbling into their success and narrowly avoiding catastrophe at every turn. The "ex-colored man" is always jumping around to different parts of the world, and the narrative jumps along with him. One haphazard adventure precipitates the next—for instance, he runs off with the millionaire after almost being shot by the rich widow's companion. By weaving elements of the picaresque into the novel, Johnson makes it entertaining to read. He also satirizes the racial politics of the early 20th century and the difficult absurdity of navigating them.
