James Weldon Johnson Quotes

American writer and activist (1871–1938)

Add quote

James Weldon Johnson (June 17, 1871 – June 26, 1938) was a leading American author, critic, journalist, poet, anthropologist, educator, lawyer, songwriter, early civil rights activist, and prominent figure in the Harlem Renaissance. He was also one of the first African-American professors at New York University. Later in life he was a Professor of Creative Literature and Writing at Fisk University.

Bio from: Wikiquote (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Alternative Names: J. W. Johnson

From Wikidata (CC0)

O black and unknown bards of long ago,
How came your lips to touch the sacred fire?
How, in your darkness, did you come to know
The power and beauty of the minstrels' lyre?

How would you have us, as we are?
Or sinking 'neath the load we bear?
Our eyes fixed forward on a star?
Or gazing empty at despair?

It is from the blues that all that may be called American music derives its most distinctive characteristic.

The glory of the day was in her face,
The beauty of the night was in her eyes.

Every race and every nation should be judged by the best it has been able to produce, not by the worst.

The colored people of this country know and understand the white people better than the white people know and understand them.

We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered.

Lift every voice and sing
Till earth and heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty.
Let our rejoicing rise high as the listening skies;
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.