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James Weldon Johnson: Author Page

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James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938) was a prominent activist, composer, poet, and editor. He is best known for composing "Lift Every Voice and Sing" (1899) sometimes referred to as the "Black National Anthem," but he rose to prominence in the literary world as the author of Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (1912), his first collection of poems, Fifty Years and Other Poems (1917), and his edited collection The Book of American Negro Poetry (1922). The first collection gets its title from Johnson's 1913 poem, "Fifty Years," celebrating the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation; that poem was originally published in the New York Times. 

In 1927, Johnson published another volume of poetry -- in the forms of verse sermons -- called God's Trombones. A digital edition of that book is available here. It contains "The Creation," a poem Johnson had first published in 1920, and which was widely anthologized during the Harlem Renaissance. 

Johnson was born in Jacksonville, Florida and attended Atlanta University, a Historically Black university. He and his brother later moved to New York City. Johnson also occupied a position of prominence with the NAACP, serving as its executive director between 1920 and 1930. 

Contents of this path:

  1. James Weldon Johnson, "Fifty Years and Other Poems" (1917) (Full text)
  2. James Weldon Johnson, Preface to the "Book of American Negro Poetry" (1922)
  3. James Weldon Johnson, "God's Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse" (1927) (full text)
  4. Poems by James Weldon Johnson in "The Book of American Negro Poetry" (1922)
  5. "The Book of American Negro Poetry" (1922) Ed. James W. Johnson
  6. Robert Kerlin, Chapter 7, "The Poetry of Protest" (Georgia Douglas Johnson, James Weldon Johnson, Lucian Watkins, Carrie Clifford, Claude McKay)
  7. James Weldon Johnson, "Fifty Years" (1913)
  8. James Weldon Johnson, "Father, Father Abraham" (1913)
  9. James Weldon Johnson, "The Black Mammy" (1915)
  10. James Weldon Johnson, "The White Witch" (1915)
  11. James Weldon Johnson, "Brothers" (1916)
  12. James Weldon Johnson, "To America" (1917)
  13. James Weldon Johnson, "The Creation" (1920)
  14. James Weldon Johnson, "My City" (1922)
  15. James Weldon Johnson, "Go Down Death: A Funeral Sermon" (1927)
  16. James Weldon Johnson, "Let My People Go" (1927)
  17. James Weldon Johnson, "Listen Lord: A Prayer" (1927)
  18. James Weldon Johnson, "Prodigal Son" (1927)
  19. James Weldon Johnson, "The Judgment Day" (1927)
  20. James Weldon Johnson, "The Tale of a Kitten" (1920)
  21. James Weldon Johnson, Biographical Note in "Caroling Dusk" (1927)

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