James Weldon JohnsonJames Weldon Johnson (1871-1938) was a novelist, poet, lawyer, editor and ethnomusicologist, and co-author of the hymn 'Lift Every Voice and Sing', which is informally known as the Black national anthem in the USA. Born in Jacksonville, Florida, he ws educated at Atlanta and Columbia Universities and was the first Black lawyer admitted to the Florida bar. He was also, for a time, a songwriter in New York, American consul in Venezuela and Nicaragua, executive secretary of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) and professor of creative literature at Fisk University. His other books include an autobiography, Along This Way, and God's Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse. Read More Read Less