James Weldon JohnsonJames Weldon Johnson, American writer and a civil rights activist was born in Jacksonville, Florida on June 17, 1871. Johnson, who was taught music and other subjects by his mother, graduated from Atlanta University with B.A. and M.A. degrees and latr studied at Columbia University. With his gifted poetry and novels like God's Trombones (1927) and The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, Johnson raised the bar for artistry and realism in Black writing (1912). His groundbreaking research on Music, Black literature, and theater in the 1920s helped the white Americans of that time realize the deep African American creative energy, which was previously mostly represented through dialect poetry and minstrel show distortions. With the assistance of a local white attorney, Johnson studied law, and in 1898 he became the first Black attorney admitted to the Florida Bar since Reconstruction. While continuing to lead the Stanton School, Johnson had a law practice with a former classmate from Atlanta University for a number of years. Along with this, he kept up his poetry writing and, with the help of his brother Rosamond who was an accomplished composer, discovered his aptitude for songs. Read More Read Less