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

Northern white people love the Negro in a sort of abstract way, as a race; through a sense of justice, charity, and philanthropy, they will liberally assist in his elevation.

James Weldon Johnson

When we arrived in London, my sadness at leaving Paris was turned into despair. After my long stay in the French capital, huge, ponderous, massive London seemed to me as ugly a thing as man could contrive to make.

James Weldon Johnson

Southern white people despise the Negro as a race, and will do nothing to aid in his elevation as such; but for certain individuals they have a strong affection, and are helpful to them in many ways.

James Weldon Johnson

My mother was kept very busy with her sewing; sometimes she would have another woman helping her.

James Weldon Johnson

It is a struggle; for though the black man fights passively, he nevertheless fights; and his passive resistance is more effective at present than active resistance could possibly be. He bears the fury of the storm as does the willow tree.

James Weldon Johnson

I believe it to be a fact that the colored people of this country know and understand the white people better than the white people know and understand them.

James Weldon Johnson

But I must own that I also felt stirred by an unselfish desire to voice all the joys and sorrows, the hopes and ambitions, of the American Negro, in classic musical form.

James Weldon Johnson

As yet, the Negroes themselves do not fully appreciate these old slave songs.

James Weldon Johnson

Shortly after this I was made a member of the boys' choir, it being found that I possessed a clear, strong soprano voice. I enjoyed the singing very much.

James Weldon Johnson

As I look back now I can see that I was a perfect little aristocrat.

James Weldon Johnson

You are young, gifted, and Black. We must begin to tell our young, There's a world waiting for you, Yours is the quest that's just begun.

James Weldon Johnson

My luck at the gambling table was varied; sometimes I was fifty to a hundred dollars ahead, and at other times I had to borrow money from my fellow workmen to settle my room rent and pay for my meals.

James Weldon Johnson

Americans are immensely popular in Paris; and this is not due solely to the fact that they spend lots of money there, for they spend just as much or more in London, and in the latter city they are merely tolerated because they do spend.

James Weldon Johnson

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

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