Quotes by James Weldon Johnson

About James Weldon Johnson:

James Weldon Johnson is best remembered for his leadership of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), where he started working in 1917. In 1920 he was the first black individual to be chosen as executive secretary of the organization, effectively the operating officer. He served in that position from 1920 to 1930. Johnson established his reputation as a writer, and was known during the Harlem Renaissance for his poems, novels, and anthologies collecting both poems and spirituals of black culture.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

In the life of everyone there is a limited number of experiences which are not written upon the memory, but stamped there with a die; and in the long years after, they can be called up in detail, and every emotion that was stirred by them can be live...

James Weldon Johnson

New York City is the most fatally fascinating thing in America. She sits like a great witch at the gate of the country, showing her alluring white face, and hiding her crooked hands and feet under the folds of her wide garments,--constantly enticing ...

James Weldon Johnson

It’s no disgrace to be black, but it’s often very inconvenient.

James Weldon Johnson

Washington shows the Negro not only at his best, but also at his worst.

James Weldon Johnson

Through my music teaching and my not absolutely irregular attendance at church, I became acquainted with the best class of colored people in Jacksonville.

James Weldon Johnson

Any musical person who has never heard a Negro congregation under the spell of religious fervor sing these old songs has missed one of the most thrilling emotions which the human heart may experience.

James Weldon Johnson

I thought of Paris as a beauty spot on the face of the earth, and of London as a big freckle.

James Weldon Johnson

The peculiar fascination which the South held over my imagination and my limited capital decided me in favor of Atlanta University; so about the last of September I bade farewell to the friends and scenes of my boyhood and boarded a train for the Sou...

James Weldon Johnson

I do not see how a people that can find in its conscience any excuse whatever for slowly burning to death a human being, or for tolerating such an act, can be entrusted with the salvation of a race.

James Weldon Johnson

There are a great many colored people who are ashamed of the cake-walk, but I think they ought to be proud of it.

James Weldon Johnson

The Southern whites are in many respects a great people. Looked at from a certain point of view, they are picturesque. If one will put oneself in a romantic frame of mind, one can admire their notions of chivalry and bravery and justice.

James Weldon Johnson

Amsterdam was a great surprise to me. I had always thought of Venice as the city of canals; it had never entered my mind that I should find similar conditions in a Dutch town.

James Weldon Johnson

My appearance was always good and my ability to play on the piano, especially ragtime, which was then at the height of its vogue, made me a welcome guest.

James Weldon Johnson

In Berlin I especially enjoyed the orchestral concerts, and I attended a large number of them. I formed the acquaintance of a good many musicians, several of whom spoke of my playing in high terms.

James Weldon Johnson

Labor is the fabled magician's wand, the philosophers stone, and the cap of good fortune.

James Weldon Johnson

Young man, young man, your arm's too short to box with God.

James Weldon Johnson

I had enjoyed life in Paris, and, taking all things into consideration, enjoyed it wholesomely.

James Weldon Johnson

And so for a couple of years my life was divided between my music and my school books.

James Weldon Johnson

The battle was first waged over the right of the Negro to be classed as a human being with a soul; later, as to whether he had sufficient intellect to master even the rudiments of learning; and today it is being fought out over his social recognition...

James Weldon Johnson

She was my first love, and I loved her as only a boy loves.

James Weldon Johnson

Author Bio

  • NameJames Weldon Johnson
  • Descriptionwriter and activist
  • BornJune 17, 1871
  • DiedJune 26, 1938
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionWriter; Poet; Novelist; Songwriter; Composer
  • WorksThe Autobiography Of An Ex-Colored Man
  • AwardsSpingarn Medal; William E. Harmon Foundation Award For Distinguished Achievement Among Negroes