author
James Weldon Johnson
1871–1938
A leading voice of the Harlem Renaissance, this writer and civil rights advocate moved with ease between poetry, fiction, diplomacy, and public life. His work helped shape both Black literary culture and the long fight for equality in the United States.
3 Audiobooks
The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man
by James Weldon Johnson
Self-Determining Haiti Four articles reprinted from The Nation embodying a report of an investigation made for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
by James Weldon Johnson
Fifty Years, & Other Poems
by James Weldon Johnson
About the author
Born in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1871, James Weldon Johnson built an unusually wide-ranging career as a writer, educator, lawyer, diplomat, songwriter, and civil rights leader. He studied at Atlanta University, became the principal of Stanton School, and was the first Black lawyer admitted to the Florida bar since Reconstruction.
Johnson is remembered in literature for works including The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man and the poetry collection God’s Trombones. With his brother J. Rosamond Johnson, he also wrote songs that became deeply woven into American culture, including “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”
Beyond literature, he played a major role in public life through his work with the NAACP, where he helped expand the organization and spoke out against racial violence and segregation. He also served as a U.S. diplomat in Venezuela and Nicaragua, bringing the same intelligence and calm authority to international service that marked his writing and activism.