James Weldon Johnson

Biography

James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938) was an American author, educator, diplomat, and civil rights leader who was one of the most versatile and accomplished African Americans of the early twentieth century. Born in Jacksonville, Florida, Johnson was the first Black person admitted to the Florida Bar, served as U.S. consul to Venezuela and Nicaragua, and was a key leader of the NAACP, serving as its executive secretary from 1920 to 1930. His literary achievements are equally remarkable: he wrote the lyrics to “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” often called the Black National Anthem; published poetry collections including God’s Trombones; and edited The Book of American Negro Poetry, a landmark anthology. His novel The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (1912), originally published anonymously, is considered a masterpiece of African American literature—a psychologically complex exploration of racial identity, passing, and the costs of assimilation. Johnson’s work bridges the gap between the post-Reconstruction era and the Harlem Renaissance, of which he was a key architect.