James Weldon Johnson, American Author and Activist

James Weldon Johnson (June 17, 1871 - June 26, 1938) was an African-American author, educator, lawyer, diplomat, songwriter, and civil rights activist. He and his brother Rosamond moved to NYC as young men, joining the Great Migration out of the South in the first half of the 20th century. In 1906 he was appointed by the Roosevelt Administration as consul of Puerto Cabello, Venezuela. In 1909, he transferred to Corinto, Nicaragua. He wrote substantial portions of his novel, The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, and his poetry collection, Fifty Years, during this period. He is best remembered for his leadership within the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), where he started working in 1917. Following the flourishing of the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s, Johnson compiled an anthology of poetry by black writers, The Book of American Negro Poetry, published in 1931. He died in 1938, at the age of 67, when the car he was driving was hit by a train. Visual Materials from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Records, circa 1900-20

Picture No

12697126

Media ID

47687604

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3364px x 4200px (1.5MB)

Credit

LOC/Science Source/Mary Evans