| Birth: | Jun. 17, 1871
Jacksonville
Duval County
Florida, USA | | Death: | Jun. 26, 1938
Wiscasset
Lincoln County
Maine, USA | 
Composer, Social Reformer, US Diplomat. Probably best known as the composer of what has become known as the Black national anthem, "Lift Every Voice and Sing," (1900) which gives praise to Black hope, strength and religious faith, he was also a teacher, poet, author, government official and civil rights leader. Born James William Johnson in Jacksonville, Florida in 1871, he later changed his middle name to Weldon in 1913. In his lifetime he wrote over 30 poems, he also started the first Black daily newspaper in the United States, "The Daily American" in 1895. He went on to become the first black lawyer in the state of Florida, and served as United States Ambassador to Venezuela in 1906, Nicaragua in 1909 and the Azores in 1912. In 1916, he joined the NAACP as National Field Secretary and worked for almost 15 years. He spent two years in Washington, DC trying to get a law passed to stop lynchings in the United States. Later in his life, he retired from the NAACP and taught at Fisk University, in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1933, He published his popular autobiography "Along This Way". He died in 1938 near his summer home in Wiscasset, Maine, when the car in which he was driving was struck by a train in a heavy rainstorm. His funeral held in Harlem was attended by more than 2,000 people. (bio by: Curtis Jackson)
Family links:
Spouse:
Grace Nail Johnson (1885 - 1976)*
*Calculated relationship
Search Amazon for James Johnson | | | Burial:
Green-Wood Cemetery
Brooklyn
Kings County
New York, USA
Plot: Section 193, Lot 27330 |
Maintained by: Find A Grave
Originally Created by: Cinnamonntoast4
Record added: Jan 25, 2002
Find A Grave Memorial# 6125709 |
|
|
|
James - William C. Warfield, Q.V. was age 18 the year you died. Until the year 2002, when he died, he was the best interpreter and representative of your poetry and song. Mr. Warfield is being damned with faint praise here on Find-A-Grave. Put your arms a...(Read more)
-
Ed Chilton
Added: Apr. 7, 2013 |
-
Lance
Added: Dec. 3, 2012 |
-
49boy3
Added: Jun. 26, 2012 |
| There are 87 more notes not showing...
Click here to view all notes...
| |
|
Do you have a photo to add? Click here |
(4.1 after 40 votes)
