"And
God stepped out on
space,
And he looked around and said:
I'm
lonely--
I'll make me a
world."
(from "
The Creation"; James Weldon Johnson)
Born:
1871;
Jacksonville,
Florida
James Weldon Johnson's
poetry and
music typically had a strongly
religious theme, and he is perhaps best known for having written what was to become the "
Negro National Anthem", "
Lift Every Voice and Sing", in
1900 for the occasion of
Abraham Lincoln's birthday. He tended to use the
vernacular to present his poems and writings with a sort of familiar
simplicity. He also achieved some degree of fame when collaborating with his brother, a composer, on songwriting for
Broadway musicals, as well as in writing (under a
pseudonym) the
novel The Aubobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, which told the story of a
musician who had lost contact with his native
roots in order to live a life of
comfort and
materialism in the white world.
Johnson is now considered to be one of the more influential literary contributors to the
Harlem Renaissance, especially in the
religious sector, as he was the basis from which many others during the period gained their
inspiration.