James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938)
Author of The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man
About the Author
Born in Jacksonville Fla. in 1871, James Weldon Johnson was one of the leaders of the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s. His career was varied and included periods as a teacher, lawyer, songwriter (with his brother J. Rosamond Johnson), and diplomat (as United States Consul to Puerto Cabello, show more Venezuela, from 1906 to 1909). Among his most famous writings are Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man, published anonymously in 1912, and God's Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse (1927), the winner of the Harmon Gold Award. He was also editor of several anthologies of African-American poetry and spirituals, and in 1933 his autobiography, Along This Way, was published. He served as Secretary to the NAACP from 1916 to 1930 and was a professor of literature at Fisk University in Nashville from 1930 until his death in 1938. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Photo taken circa 1920s
Courtesy of the NYPL Digital Gallery
(image use requires permission from the New York Public Library)
Courtesy of the NYPL Digital Gallery
(image use requires permission from the New York Public Library)
Works by James Weldon Johnson
"I'll Make Me a World" - James Weldon Johnson's Story of the Creation (Poem from Johnson's "God's Trombones") (1972) 15 copies
The Second Book of Negro Spirituals 5 copies
The Selected Writings of James Weldon Johnson - Vol. II, Social, Political, and (1995) — Author — 3 copies
Poetry 2 copies
The Selected Writings of James Weldon Johnson: Volume I: New York Age Editorials (1914-1923) (1995) — Author — 2 copies
The Poetry Of James Weldon Johnson: "Young man, young man, your arm's too short to box with God." (2014) 1 copy
Sermons Noirs 1 copy
Since you went away 1 copy
Mother Night 1 copy
Associated Works
American Poetry: The Twentieth Century, Volume One: Henry Adams to Dorothy Parker (2000) — Contributor — 479 copies, 1 review
The Norton Anthology of African American Literature {2nd edition} (2003) — Contributor, some editions — 282 copies, 2 reviews
African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle and Song (2020) — Contributor — 235 copies, 4 reviews
World War I and America: Told by the Americans Who Lived It (1918) — Contributor — 225 copies, 1 review
Let Nobody Turn Us Around: An African American Anthology (1999) — Contributor — 174 copies, 1 review
Black on White: Black Writers on What It Means to Be White (1998) — Contributor — 129 copies, 2 reviews
The Glorious American Essay: One Hundred Essays from Colonial Times to the Present (2020) — Contributor — 118 copies
In Search of Color Everywhere: A Collection of African-American Poetry (1994) — Contributor — 105 copies
The Heath Anthology of American Literature, Concise Edition (2003) — Contributor — 73 copies, 1 review
The Serpent and the Fire: Poetries of the Americas from Origins to Present (2024) — Contributor — 17 copies
The Ethnic Image in Modern American Literature, 1900-1950, Volumes 1-2 (1984) — Contributor — 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Johnson, James Weldon
- Birthdate
- 1871-06-17
- Date of death
- 1938-06-26
- Gender
- male
- Education
- Edwin M. Stanton School
Atlanta University (AB|1894)
Atlanta University, (AM|1904)
Columbia University (1902-05) - Occupations
- poet
novelist
composer
lawyer
editor
diplomat (show all 11)
teacher
principal
professor
historian
musician - Organizations
- American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (charter member)
Academy of Political Science
Ethical Society
Civic Club
Phi Beta Sigma
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) (show all 16)
Stanton College Preparatory School (principal)
Fisk University (professor)
The Daily American (founder and editor)
Colored Republican Club (treasurer)
New York Age (editorial writer)
American Fund for Public Service (director)
Bar of the State of Florida
Stanton Central Grammar School for Negroes (teacher and principal)
Cole and the Johnson Brothers
New York University - Awards and honors
- Spingarn Medal (1925)
Julius Rosenwald Fund Grant
Honorary doctorate, Talladega College
Honorary doctorate, Howard University
U.S. Postal Service stamp
Feast Day, Episcopal Church (show all 9)
Spence Chair of Creative Literature at Fisk University
Harmon Gold Award (1928)
W. E. B. DuBois Prize (1933) - Relationships
- Johnson, J. Rosamond (brother)
Johnson, Grace Nail (wife) - Cause of death
- car crash
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Jacksonville, Florida, USA
- Places of residence
- Jacksonville, Florida, USA
Atlanta, Georgia, USA
New York, New York, USA - Place of death
- Wiscasset, Maine, USA
- Burial location
- Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York, USA
- Map Location
- Florida, USA
Members
Reviews
What an extraordinary novel! It's difficult to believe such a short work can contain so much. First there is the story itself, which includes among other things a detailed and colorful explanation of the Cakewalk, the story of the rise of Ragtime, the beauty of the music of the Fisk Jubilee Singers, a rigorous defense of Gospel singing as culturally significant, an explanation of the inner workings of a cigar factory, a celebration of Uncle Remus stories before they were sullied by Walt show more Disney, and scenes describing gambling, fetishization of blacks by whites, and what it's like to travel overnight in the laundry closet of a Pullman car...amazing. Interlaced throughout the liveliness of the tale are ruminations about race that feel contemporary. By making his protagonist able to 'pass' for white Johnson creates a character who can move into and out of black or white culture at will. Johnson thus gives the character the perception and insight of an outsider, someone who observes and records without feeling compelled to judge. The ending is wrenching, when the protagonist realizes he has sacrificed his dreams and his ambitions and his talents, by choosing the safety and prosperity of living as a white man: "I have chosen the lesser part, that I have sold my birthright for a mess of pottage." show less
The slimness of this novel belies the breadth and depth of its exploration of the racial and social divide in post-Reconstruction America.
We are whisked through the protagonist's relatively fortunate life, where his "Italian" complexion allows him access to white privilege while his upbringing allows him to also maintain an access to Black culture and community. Through this back-and-forth across the two cultures, he presents his experiences life as a Black-but-passing-for-white man in and show more outside of America.
The title forever hangs at the back of the reader's mind through the protagonist's various travels. At what point will he seek the "easy" way out? There are some essay-ish moments which the novel is clearly built around on to build up to the inevitable titular moment. But instead of being clunky or out-of-place I found them remarkable in how the author does not shy away from presenting opposing arguments as well as exposing the hypocrisy of both sides. Overall it feels like the academic brother of the more psychological and emotionally-charged Passing by Nella Larsen. show less
We are whisked through the protagonist's relatively fortunate life, where his "Italian" complexion allows him access to white privilege while his upbringing allows him to also maintain an access to Black culture and community. Through this back-and-forth across the two cultures, he presents his experiences life as a Black-but-passing-for-white man in and show more outside of America.
The title forever hangs at the back of the reader's mind through the protagonist's various travels. At what point will he seek the "easy" way out? There are some essay-ish moments which the novel is clearly built around on to build up to the inevitable titular moment. But instead of being clunky or out-of-place I found them remarkable in how the author does not shy away from presenting opposing arguments as well as exposing the hypocrisy of both sides. Overall it feels like the academic brother of the more psychological and emotionally-charged Passing by Nella Larsen. show less
Readers never learn the original name of the supposed author of this fictional autobiography nor the name which he concocts once he decides what his future is to be. A Negro Everyman then. Our protagonist is the progeny of the handsome scion of a wealthy Connecticut family and the scion’s mother’s high-yellow seamstress, or as he calls it “the child of this unsanctioned love.” The boy favors his White ancestry and is brought up with every luxury, except the open acknowledgement of show more his father, who only occasionally visits but pays for fine clothing, piano and voice lessons and more. In other words, this young man has every privilege that can be conferred on a Negro at the end of the 19th century in the North.
But at a time of segregation and racism, bad enough in the North and horrific in the South, can that be enough? The title’s use of “Ex-Coloured Man” reveals what readers expect from the beginning. That working for what was then called the Negro race and being openly Black came at a very high cost. Still in print more than a century after author and NAACP leader James Weldon Johnson released anonymously in 1912, sadly, so much of what Johnson wrote still applies. (He was a diplomat to Venezuela and then Nicaragua under the Teddy Roosevelt administration, and he feared that what would be considered a radical work would harm his career.) As Johnson wrote:
But at a time of segregation and racism, bad enough in the North and horrific in the South, can that be enough? The title’s use of “Ex-Coloured Man” reveals what readers expect from the beginning. That working for what was then called the Negro race and being openly Black came at a very high cost. Still in print more than a century after author and NAACP leader James Weldon Johnson released anonymously in 1912, sadly, so much of what Johnson wrote still applies. (He was a diplomat to Venezuela and then Nicaragua under the Teddy Roosevelt administration, and he feared that what would be considered a radical work would harm his career.) As Johnson wrote:
And this is the dwarfing, warping, distorting influence which operates upon each and every colored man in the United States. He is forced to take his outlook on all things, not from the viewpoint of a citizen, or a man, or even a human being, but from the viewpoint of a colored man.show less
As we can see with the Trump Administration’s attempt to obliterate mentions of women and people of color off government websites, including heroes off the Pentagon’s webpages, things in the process of reverting back to Johnson’s day. That’s why this is so highly, highly, highly recommended.
Trivia: Johnson is the author of the words to the Negro National Anthem, “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing,” while his brother wrote the music.
I very recently read Nella Larsen's body of writing, including Passing, which includes similar topics & themes from the same time period. This book & Passing are fascinating to read in tandem, especially so because of the male vs. female observations. Larsen's book feels more intimate & urgent, while this one is narrated in a more detached manner. Both are excellent & remain relevant today even a century after their initial releases.
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Statistics
- Works
- 39
- Also by
- 34
- Members
- 4,345
- Popularity
- #5,774
- Rating
- 4.0
- Reviews
- 66
- ISBNs
- 241
- Languages
- 6
- Favorited
- 3
