The Poetry of James Weldon Johnson
Written by James Weldon Johnson
Narrated by Danny Swopes, Jesse Wright and Ghizela Rowe
5/5
()
About this audiobook
At 16 his education moved to Atlanta University and he graduated with a degree in 1894.
In 1904 Johnson helped in Theodore Roosevelt's presidential bid. On winning Roosevelt appointed him as US consul at Puerto Cabello, Venezuela in 1906 and then Nicaragua from 1909.
Johnson worked for the NAACP from 1916 as a field secretary, organizing local chapters. To counter race riots and lynching’s he organized mass demonstrations, such as a silent protest parade of over ten thousand African Americans down New York’s Fifth Avenue in July 1917.
In 1920 Johnson was elected to manage the NAACP, the first African American to hold this position. That same year he was dispatched to monitor conditions in Haiti and described in The Nation the brutal occupation and also offered remedies. During the 1920’s he was one of the major inspirations of the Harlem Renaissance
In the midst of all this he continued to write novels, poems, and folklore. In 1917, he saw published ‘50 Years and Other Poems’. In 1922, he edited ‘The Book of American Negro Poetry’, which the Academy of American Poets calls "a major contribution to the history of African-American literature." In 1927 followed ‘God's Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse’.
One of the first African-American professors at NYU he was also, later, a professor of creative literature and writing at Fisk University. His career spanned several elements; education, the diplomatic corps, civil rights activism, literature, poetry, and music.
James Weldon Johnson died on June 26th, 1938 whilst vacationing in Wiscasset, Maine when his car was hit by a train.
James Weldon Johnson
James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938) was an African American writer and civil rights activist. Born in Jacksonville, Florida, he obtained an education from a young age, first by his mother, a musician and teacher, and then at the Edwin M. Stanton School. In 1894, he graduated from Atlanta University, a historically Black college known for its rigorous classical curriculum. With his brother Rosamond, he moved to New York City, where they excelled as songwriters for Broadway. His poem “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” (1899), set to music by Rosamond, eventually became known as the “Negro National Anthem.” Over the next several decades, he dedicated himself to education, activism, and diplomacy. From 1906 to 1913, he worked as a United States Consul, first in Puerto Cabello, Venezuela, and then in Nicaragua. He married Grace Nail, an activist and artist, in 1910, and would return to New York with her following the end of his diplomatic career. While in Nicaragua, he wrote and anonymously published The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (1912), a novel exploring the phenomenon of racial passing. In 1917, Johnson began his work with the NAACP, eventually rising to the role of executive secretary. He became known as a towering figure of the Harlem Renaissance, writing poems and novels as well as compiling such anthologies as The Book of American Negro Poetry (1922). For his contributions to African American culture as an artist and patron, his activism against lynching, and his pioneering work as the first African American professor at New York University, Johnson is considered one of twentieth century America’s leading cultural figures.
More audiobooks from James Weldon Johnson
O Southland! Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Born in the USA - Exploring America in Poems - The South-East Poets: A celebration of American poetry Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSunset in the Tropics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFifty Shades of Slumber: 50 of the best poems about sleep Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFifty Shades of Roses: 50 of the best poems about everyones favourite flower Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Mother Night Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDeep In The Quiet Wood Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to The Poetry of James Weldon Johnson
Related audiobooks
Langston Hughes: Harlem Renaissance Writer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Women of Hope: African Americans Who Made a Difference Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Weary Blues Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Stones of the Village Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Chester B. Himes Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5On the Shoulders of Giants, Vol 2: Master Intellects and Creative Giants Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Macat Analysis of Zora Neale Hurston's Characteristics of Negro Expression Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIn Search of a Beautiful Freedom: New and Selected Essays Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I Hear My People Singing: Voices of African American Princeton Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBorn in the USA - Exploring America in Poems - The South-East Poets: A celebration of American poetry Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Kevin Powell Reader: Essential Writings and Conversations Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Colonel's Dream Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Gorilla Black Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5’Membering Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Souls of Black Folk: Original Classic Edition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How It Feels To Be Colored Me Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Scent of Heaven Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGetting Our Breath Back Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRoom Swept Home Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hair Story Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDriving the King Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Huey P. Newton: Smoking Out Fascist America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5David Walker's Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Crawfish Dreams Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Maroons and the Gullah: The History of the Unique Cultures Formed by Free Africans in the Americas Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe New Negro: An Interpretation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFrom Sunset to Sunset Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Poetry of James Weldon Johnson: A hugely influential black writer that spearheaded the Harlem Renaissance Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Poetry For You
Beowulf Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beowulf Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Iliad: A New Translation by Caroline Alexander Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Raven Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pretty Boys Are Poisonous: Poems Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tao Te Ching: A New English Version Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Beowulf: A New Translation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Prophet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Inferno Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Metamorphoses Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gilgamesh: A New English Version Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Spirits in Bondage Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Milk and Honey Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pure Act: The Uncommon Life of Robert Lax Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Gift of Rumi: Experiencing the Wisdom of the Sufi Master Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rumi's Little Book of Life: The Garden of the Soul, the Heart, and the Spirit Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Beowulf: Translated by Seamus Heaney Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Paradise Lost Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Poems of T.S. Eliot Read by Jeremy Irons Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Inferno - Dante Alighieri Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSir Gawain and the Green Knight: with Pearl and Sir Orfeo Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Black Imagination: Black Voices on Black Futures Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Classic Hundred Poems: All-Time Favorites Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Raven and Other Poems: Classic Tales Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beholding: Deepening Our Experience In God Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Inferno of Dante Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Odyssey: The Fitzgerald Translation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Strength In Our Scars Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Good Poems: Selected and Introduced by Garrison Keillor Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Prophet Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related categories
Reviews for The Poetry of James Weldon Johnson
1 rating0 reviews