‘I Am An American’ by James Alan McPherson

I Am An American by James Alan McPherson, 1974

The magic trick:

Showing a black man from the American South navigating how he identifies himself and others throughout a trip to England

We’re in London today, this Fourth of July. Strange? Well, not really. McPherson’s narrator in “I Am An American” is a black man on vacation in England with his wife. While staying at a hostel of questionable quality, he gets thrown into a mess of a robbery involving two Japanese guests, a possibly-Bulgarian suspect, and a couple of skeptical English bobbies.

Without ever being didactic, the story casts a new light on how the narrator identifies himself and what it means for him to utter the titular phrase.

And that’s quite a trick on McPherson’s part.

The selection:

“People should be careful of these things,” the landlady said, wiping her hands on her apron.

“It’s ten-thirty,” Eunice said. “We want to go sightseeing.”

The redhead smiled cryptically. “He’ll have to go along to make a proper description,” he advised Eunice. “It would be quite helpful to these two chaps here.”

“I’m sick and tired of all the running around,” Eunice said.

The bobby smiled.

The two Orientals stood watching all of us.

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