JOHNSON, JAMES WELDON
James Weldon Johnson was a key figure in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) between 1916 and 1930, and helped transform that organization into the leading African–American CIVIL
RIGHTS advocacy group in the United States.
Johnson’s efforts as NAACP field secretary
greatly increased the number of NAACP
branches and members, and his work as execu-
tive secretary during the 1920s expanded the
association’s LOBBYING, litigation, fund-raising,
and publicity campaigns. Johnson was also a
highly accomplished writer and played a vital
role in the African–American literary movement
known as the Harlem Renaissance.
Johnson was born June 17, 1871, in Jack-
sonville, Florida. His parents, James Johnson
and Helen Louise Dillette Johnson, encouraged
his pursuit of education, and he graduated from
Atlanta University in 1894.He then took a job as
principal at the Stanton School in Jacksonville,
where he established a high school program.
He studied law with a white lawyer in his
spare time, and in 1898 was admitted to the
Florida bar. He also wrote lyrics for songs com-
posed by his brother, J. Rosamond Johnson. In
1900 the two wrote the song “Lift Every Voice
and Sing,” which later became known as the
“Negro National Anthem.” The two brothers
moved to New York in 1902 and went on to
become a highly successful songwriting team.
Johnson became involved in New York poli-
tics. In 1904 he became treasurer of the city’s
Colored Republican Club, helping with the cam-
paign to reelect THEODORE ROOSEVELT to the
presidency. On the recommendation of W. E. B.
DU BOIS, an African–American scholar and civil
rights leader, Johnson was named U.S. consul to
Puerto Cabello, Venezuela, in 1906. Two years
later he was appointed consul to Corinto,
Nicaragua. He remained in that position until
1913, when he resigned. Johnson believed that
the election of WOODROW WILSON, a Democrat,
to the presidency, as well as significant racial
prejudice, would interfere with his advancement
in the consular service. In 1910 he married
Grace Nail. The couple had no children.
Johnson returned to New York and in 1914
became an editorialist and columnist at the New
Yor k Ag e newspaper. Two years later he was
offered a position as field secretary for the
NAACP, which was founded in 1909 to improve
the situation of African Americans. In that office
Johnson traveled widely and did much to help
the NAACP grow from nine thousand members
in 1916 to ninety thousand in 1920.Under John-
son’s direction the number of branches multi-
plied rapidly as well. In the South, where
NAACP activity had been weak, the number of
branches increased from 3 to 131. Johnson also
spoke widely on the subject of RACIAL DISCRIM-
INATION, and he organized NAACP protests. In
1917 he coordinated a silent march in New York
to protest LYNCHING of African Americans and
other forms of racial oppression. Throughout
his tenure at the NAACP, he remained commit-
ted to keeping it an interracial organization,
seeking the membership and aid of whites as
well as blacks.
By 1920 Johnson had risen to executive sec-
retary of the NAACP, the organization’s highest
leadership position. Under his guidance the
NAACP publicized the continued lynching of
African Americans, which the organization esti-
mated had caused the death of three thousand
people between 1889 and 1919. Johnson
directed the NAACP’s support of the 1921 Dyer
antilynching bill (which did not become law),
LABOR UNION movements, and policies to
improve living and working conditions for
African Americans. In addition, Johnson issued
an influential report on the U.S. occupation of
Haiti occurring at that time. Furthermore, John-
son was a highly successful fund-raiser.
Johnson’s leadership greatly increased the
NAACP’s influence on U.S. law. He helped
expand the organization’s campaigns to end
laws and practices that segregated African
Americans and denied them basic freedoms
such as the right to vote. Under Johnson’s lead-
ership the NAACP successfully argued Nixon v.
Herndon, 273 U.S. 536, 47 S. Ct. 446, 71 L. Ed.
759 (1927), before the Supreme Court. The deci-
sion held that a whites-only DEMOCRATIC PARTY
primary in Texas was unconstitutional, and
marked a significant step toward establishing
equal VOTING RIGHTS for African Americans.
In 1930 Johnson resigned from the NAACP
