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Popular as a songwriter, masterly as a writer, riveting as a public speaker, and forceful as a proponent of civil rights, James Weldon Johnson was a central figure of the Harlem Renaissance.

He became the first Black man admitted to the Florida bar in Jacksonville, his birthplace. Around the turn of the century, he moved to New York City.

Johnson, with his brother J. Rosamond and musician Bob Cole, formed a trio called “Those Ebony Offenbachs” and wrote light operas, Broadway shows, and popular songs such as “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” The latter tune—sometimes dubbed the “Black national anthem”—testifies to the trials, the triumphs, and the underlying patriotism of African American civilians.

Black Americans may have lacked economic power, Johnson reasoned, but they could still use art and literature to improve the conditions of their daily lives. He therefore set out to promote African American culture. His 1922 anthology, The Book of American Negro Poetry, enabled new voices to resound on the literary scene; indeed, some cite it as a catalyst for the Harlem Renaissance.

Johnson’s friendship with white philanthropists such as Joel Spingarn helped him finance several Black talents. He persuaded the Julius Rosenwald Fund to start up an African American fellowship program; over the next 25 years, it provided nearly 1,000 fellowships. As executive secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) from 1916 to 1930, Johnson excelled at raising funds for that organization’s critical work. Johnson’s writing weaved its way into the fabric of Harlem society.

Selections from his 1927 book of poetry, God’s Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse, were often recited at social gatherings such as the parties thrown by Carl Van Vechten. In 1930, his Black Manhattan—the first history of African Americans in Harlem—spotlighted the emergence of Black artists in the city. A year later, Johnson left the city he had helped define for a creative writing professorship at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee.

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Eric Friedman 
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Kenny Neal 
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Tiffany A. Bryant 
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JoDee Scissors 
Content Specialist, Digital Learning

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