James Weldon Johnson

James Weldon Johnson 1871-1938, American author, b. Jacksonville, Fla., educated at Atlanta Univ. (B.A., 1894) and at Columbia. Johnson was the first African American to be admitted to the Florida bar and later was American consul (1906-12), first in Venezuela and then in Nicaragua. In 1930 he became a professor at Fisk Univ., and in 1934 a visiting professor at New York Univ. He helped found and was secretary (1916-30) of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. His novel Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man (1912), published anonymously, caused a great stir and was republished under his name in 1927. Among his other works are the words to Lift Every Voice and Sing (1900, repr. 1993), which has been called the African-American national anthem, God's Trombones (1927), African-American sermons in verse, and Black Manhattan (1930). He wrote songs with his brother, John Rosamond Johnson .

Bibliography: See his autobiography, Along This Way (1933, repr. 1973); study by E. Levy (1973).

Johnson, James Weldon (1871–1938), educator, civil rights leader, writer.Born in Jacksonville, Florida, Johnson graduated from Atlanta University in 1894 and three years later became the first African American to be admitted to the Florida bar. In 1901, he moved to New York City, where he worked with his brother John Rosamund Johnson on musicals and wrote, among other songs, Lift Every Voice and Sing, later to become an anthem of the civil rights movement. Johnson's involvement in Republican party politics led to his appointment as U.S. consul to Venezuela (1906–1909) and Nicaragua (1909–1912). While abroad, he wrote Autobiography of an Ex‐Colored Man (1912), a novel that established his literary reputation and ignited a heated debate about racism.

Johnson wrote explicitly for an interracial audience, in accordance with his belief that racial equality should be asserted on an artistic level, as well as legally and politically. A prominent figure of the Harlem Renaissance, he promoted art patronage and education for African Americans, taught creative writing, and extended his own literary output, including an autobiography, Along This Way (1933), and Black Manhattan (1930), a study of African American influences on New York life. God's Trombones (1927), poetry based on the rhythms and texts of the black preaching tradition, and The Book of American Negro Poetry (1922), the first publication to document African American poetry, rank among his most innovative and influential works. Johnson also did much to increase African American visibility in the political sphere. As field secretary and then executive secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (1916–1930), he expanded the organization's membership and influence, leaving a powerful political force as part of his legacy.
See also African American Religion.

Bibliography

Eugene Levy , James Weldon Johnson: Black Leader, Black Voice, 1973.
Kenneth M. Price and Lawrence J. Oliver, eds., Critical Essays on James Weldon Johnson, 1997.

Tanya Agathocleous