JamesWeldonJohnson:Writings

TheAutobiographyofanEx-ColoredMan(1912),JamesWeldonJohnson'sfirstbookandthefirstmodernistnovelwrittenbyanAfricanAmerican,isagroundbreakingandsubtleaccountofracialpassing,initiallypublishedasananonymousmemoir.Itsveracity—manybelievedittobeagenuineautobiography—hasmadeitoneoftheundisputedmasterpiecesofAfricanAmericanliteratureandestablishedJohnsonintheAfricanAmericanliteraryvanguardofthefirsthalfofthetwentiethcentury.Hewasalsooneofthecentralfiguresofthecivil-rightsstruggleofhisera,atirelessactivistandlongtimeleaderoftheNAACP.Untilnow,however,hisinnovativeandfascinatingwritingshaveneverbeengatheredinaone-volumeedition.Johnson'scomplexcareerspannedtheworldsofdiplomacy(asaU.S.consulinVenezuelaandNicaragua),politics(assecretaryoftheNAACP),journalism(asthefounderofonenewspaperandlongtimeeditorofanother),andmusicaltheater(aslyricistfortheBroadwaysong-writingteamofColeandJohnsonBrothers).WritingspresentsagenerousarrayofJohnson'sessayswhich,withtheearlyworkofW.E.B.DuBois,establishedthefoundationoftwentieth-centuryAfricanAmericanliterarycriticism;aselectionofhistopicaleditorialsfromtheNewYorkAge;andanofferingofhispoemsandlyrics,includingGod'sTrombones—abrilliantversehomagetoAfricanAmericanpreaching—vaudevillesongs,protestpoems,andperhapsJohnson'smostfamouswork,“LiftEveryVoiceandSing,”astirringhymnoftencalledthe“NegroNationalAnthem.”