James Weldon Johnson biography

Profile

James Weldon Johnson was born on June 17, 1871, in Jacksonville, Florida. He founded the Daily American newspaper in 1895. In 1897, he passed the bar and, two years later, wrote the song, "Lift Every Voice and Sing." In the early 1890s, he wrote an autobiography. He published his first poetry collection in 1917. In 1920, Weldon became the first black manager of the NAACP. He died on June 26, 1938, in Wiscasset, Maine.