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"It is from the blues that all that may be called American music derives its most distinctive character."
James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938), U.S. author, poet. Black Manhattan, ch. 11 (1930). |
"Lift every voice and sing till earth and heaven ring,
ring with the harmonies of liberty.
Let our rejoicing rise high as the listening skies;
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea."
James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938), African-American hymn-writer. Published in The Hymnal (1982). "Lift every voice and sing," l. 1-4, Edward B. Marks Music Corporation (1921).
Considered the "African-American National Anthem." |
"You sang far better than you knew; the songs
That for your listeners' hungry hearts sufficed
Still live,—but more than this to you belongs:
You sang a race from wood and stone to Christ."
James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938), U.S. author. O Black and Unknown Bards (l. 45-48). . .
Poetry of Black America, The; Anthology of the 20th Century. Arnold Adoff, ed. (1973) Harper & Row. |
"Whose starward eye
Saw chariot "swing low"? And who was he
That breathed that comforting, melodic sigh,
"Nobody knows de trouble I see"?"
James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938), U.S. author. O Black and Unknown Bards (l. 13-16). . .
Poetry of Black America, The; Anthology of the 20th Century. Arnold Adoff, ed. (1973) Harper & Row. |
"O black and unknown bards of long ago, How came your lips to touch the sacred fire?"
James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938), U.S. author, poet. "O Black and Unknown Bards," st. 1 (written c. 1907), publ. In Fifty Years and Other Poems (1917).
Opening lines. |
"And God stepped out on space,
And He looked around and said,
"I'm lonely—
I'll make me a world.""
James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938), U.S. author. The Creation (l. 1-4). . .
Poetry of Black America, The; Anthology of the 20th Century. Arnold Adoff, ed. (1973) Harper & Row. |
"So God stepped over to the edge of the world
And He spat out the seven seas;
He batted His eyes, and the lightnings flashed;
He clapped His hands, and the thunders rolled;
And the waters above the earth came down,
The cooling waters came down."
James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938), U.S. author. The Creation (l. 36-41). . .
Poetry of Black America, The; Anthology of the 20th Century. Arnold Adoff, ed. (1973) Harper & Row. |
"This Great God,
Like a mammy bending over her baby,
Kneeled down in the dust
Toiling over a lump of clay
Till He shaped it in His own image;"
James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938), U.S. author. The Creation (l. 84-88). . .
Poetry of Black America, The; Anthology of the 20th Century. Arnold Adoff, ed. (1973) Harper & Row. |
"The glory of the day was in her face,
The beauty of the night was in her eyes."
James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938), U.S. author. The Glory of the Day Was in Her Face (l. 1-2). . .
Poetry of Black America, The; Anthology of the 20th Century. Arnold Adoff, ed. (1973) Harper & Row. |
"Young man—Young man—Your arm's too short to box with God."
James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938), U.S. author, poet. The Prodigal Son, God's Trombones (1927). |
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