James Weldon Johnson
James Weldon Johnson
1871 - 1938
After graduating from Atlanta University, Johnson served as a principal of an Atlanta grammar school. Johnson’s intellectual curiosity never ceased. His scholarship of Black history motivated Johnson to edit The Book of American Negro Poetry (1922), which was the first anthology of poetry by Black writers in English. In addition to his passion for anthology, Johnson was the first Black lawyer to pass the Bar Exam in Florida.
Johnson wrote a poem named Lift Every Voice and Sing. That poem was adapted with his brother John Rosamond Johnson (a composer), who put the poem to music. In 1919, the NAACP officially adopted this new composition as the Black National Anthem. In 1920, Johnson became the first Black member of the NAACP chosen as executive secretary. In this role Johnson was effectively the chief operating officer. He led the organization as executive secretary from 1920 to 1930.
Working with the NAACP, Johnson organized parades and other large demonstrations to protest lynchings throughout the southern states and a wave of race riots in northern states. This campaign for racial justice grew in popularity and received Congressional support. The Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill of 1921, intending to make lynching a national crime, was a reflection of Johnson’s efforts. But the bill ultimately failed to become law because lacked the sufficient votes in the Senate.
President Theodore Roosevelt wanted to promote Black citizens in the government. To thank him for campaign contributions (James Weldon and his brother John Rosamond provided original sheet music of campaign songs for Roosevelt), Roosevelt appointed Johnson United States Consul to Venezuela. Johnson served with such distinction in Venezuela that President Taft later appointed him Consul to Nicaragua.
Lift Every Voice and Sing lyrics:
Lift ev’ry voice and sing,
‘Til earth and heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise
High as the list’ning skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on ’til victory is won.Stony the road we trod,
Bitter the chastening rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat,
Have not our weary feet
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,
Out from the gloomy past,
‘Til now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.God of our weary years,
God of our silent tears,
Thou who has brought us thus far on the way;
Thou who has by Thy might
Led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee,
Lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee;
Shadowed beneath Thy hand,
May we forever stand,
True to our God,
True to our native land.
