The immortal James Weldon Johnson was born on this day, the 17th of June, in 1871 in Jacksonville, Florida.
Me, I think of him as one of those wonderful examples where genius rises despite astonishing obstacles. Against a backdrop of terrible racism and bigotry he wove a life.
James Weldon Johnson’s writings included the Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, Along the Way, and God’s Trombones. He also wrote the lyrics in a collaboration with his brother Rosamond for Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing. In 1919 the NAACP called it the “Negro National Anthem.” He wrote the words, his brother the music.
But this cannot define Johnson’s life. It was a litany of accomplishments of which this was simply a crowning jewel: civil rights leader, US counsel to Venezuela and Nicaragua, first African American to be named a professor at New York University, and later professor of creative literature at Fisk.
James Weldon Johnson may at this point be best remembered as one of the leading lights of the Harlem Renaissance.
A singular figure. Someone to remember. And someone to celebrate.
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