The Selected Writings of James Weldon Johnson: Volume II: Social, Political, and Literary Essays

by Sondra Kathryn Wilson (Editor)

Overview

These two volumes of writings represent Johnson's experiences as one of black America's premier civil rights statesmen, and leader, participant, and historian of the Black Literary Movement of the 1920s.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195076455
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	05/18/1995
Pages:	480
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 9.50(h) x 1.47(d)

Table of Contents

	James Weldon Johnson (June 17, 1871-June 26, 1938): A Chronology	xiii
	Introduction	3
1	Social and Political Issues (1915-1937)
	"Speech Given at State Industrial School for Negroes," Savannah, Georgia, September 16, 1915	9
	"A Message from Our Field Secretary," Crisis 13 (1916-17): 285	21
	"The Lynching at Memphis," Crisis 14 (1917): 185-88	23
	"The Changing Status of Negro Labor," paper presented to the National Conference of Social Workers, Chicago, Illinois, 1918	30
	"The Washington Riots," Crisis 18 (1919): 241-43	36
	"Memorandum from Mr. Johnson to Dr. Du Bois: Re: Crisis Editorial," December 8, 1922	40
	"Our Democracy and the Ballot," address delivered at the Hotel Pennsylvania in New York City, in honor of Congressman F. H. LaGuardia, March 10, 1923, published in Negro Orators and Their Orations, ed. Carter G. Woodson, Washington, D.C., 1925: 663-70	46
	"The Larger Success," Commencement address, Hampton Institute, Hampton, Virginia, June 1923, and Southern Workman 52 (1923): 427-36	53
	"The Race Problem and Peace," paper presented to the VI International Summer School of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, Chicago, May 1924	62
	"James Weldon Johnson on Anglo-Saxon Superiority," New York World, February 3, 1924	69
	"Lynching--America's National Disgrace," Current History 19 (1924): 596-601	71
	"The Gentlemen's Agreement and the Negro Vote," Crisis 28 (1924): 262-64	79
	"Detroit," Crisis 33 (1926-27): 117-20	84
	"Three Achievements and Their Significance," Crisis 34 (1927): 222-24, 242	89
	"The Legal Status of Negro Americans," paper presented at the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Conference, New Haven, Connecticut, December 27, 1927	97
	"A Letter to Edwin R. Embree: The First Eighteen Years Reviewed by Johnson," February 9, 1928	107
	"A Negro Looks at Politics," American Mercury 69 (1929): 88-94	113
	"NAACP Testimonial Dinner Speech," given at the Pennsylvania Hotel in New York City, May 14, 1931	123
	"The Shining Life: A Tribute to Julius Rosenwald," presented at Fisk University, Nashville, February 1932 and published in a Fisk pamphlet, February 1932	129
	"Seventy-One Years Ago Lincoln Freed the Slaves," New York Herald Tribune Magazine, February 11, 1934, 4-5, 22	133
	Negro Americans, What Now? (New York: Viking Press, 1934)	138
	Choices	139
	Exodus	139
	Physical Force	140
	The Revolution	141
	Isolation or Integration?	142
	Forces and Resources	145
	Our Numerical Strength	145
	The Negro Church	146
	The Negro Press	148
	Organizations	150
	The Correlation of All Forces--a Super-Power	151
	Techniques and Policies	153
	Education	154
	Of Negro Youth	155
	Vocational	157
	Of White People	157
	Politics	158
	Labor and Business	161
	Interracial Relations and Contacts	168
	Leadership	170
	Place of Youth in Leadership	171
	Stereotypes, Art, and Money	172
	Conclusion	175
	"More Than Murder," Crisis 45 (1935): 231	178
	"Communism and the Negro," New York Herald Tribune Magazine, July 21, 1935, 2, 25, 27	180
	"The American Negro," address given at Fisk University, Jan 30, 1937, 29-32	189
2	International Questions (1913-1927)
	"Why Latin-America Dislikes the United States," Paper presented in New York City, September 30, 1913	195
	"Africa at the Peace Table and the Descendants of Africa in Our American Democracy," speech given at NAACP Annual Meeting, Carnegie Hall, January 16, 1919	198
	"Self-Determining Haiti," Nation 111 (1920): 236-38, 265-67, 295-97, 345-47	207
	"The Truth About Haiti," Crisis 20 (1920): 217-24	244
	"Native African Races and Culture," pamphlet: John F. Slater Fund, Occasional Papers, No. 25, 1927, Charlottesville, Virginia	253
3	The Literary Life (1912-1933)
	The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (Boston: Sherman French & Co., 1912)	273
	Fifty Years & Other Poems (Boston: Cornhill Publishers, 1917)	363
	To Horace Bumstead	364
	The Color Sergeant	365
	From the German of Uhland	365
	Before a Painting	366
	I Hear the Stars Still Singing	367
	A Mid-Day Dreamer	367
	The Temptress	368
	The Ghost of Deacon Brown	368
	"Lazy"	369
	Omar	370
	Voluptas	370
	The Word of an Engineer	371
	The Gift to Sing	372
	Morning, Noon and Night	372
	The Awakening	373
	Venus in a Garden	373
	"Nobody's Lookin' But de Owl and de Moon"	374
	"You's Sweet to Yo' Mammy Jes de Same"	374
	"July in Georgy"	375
	"Dat Gal O' Mine"	375
	"The Seasons"	376
	"'Possum Song"	376
	"An Explanation"	378
	"De Little Pickaninny's Gone to Sleep"	378
	"Harlem: The Culture Capital," Survey 53 (1925): 635-39	380
	"Now We Have the Blues," New York Amsterdam News, July 7, 1926	388
	"Romance and Tragedy in Harlem: A Review of Carl Van Vechten's Nigger Heaven," Opportunity 4 (1926): 316-17, 330	392
	"Race Prejudice and the Negro Artist," Harper's Magazine 157 (1928): 769-76	397
	"Double Audience Makes Road Hard for Negro Authors," Philadelphia Tribune, November 29, 1928	408
	"Negro Authors and White Publishers," Crisis 36 (1929): 228-29	413
	"Jubilee Day," speech given at Fisk University, October 7, 1933	416
4	The College Years (1890-1894)
	"The Best Methods of Removing the Disabilities of Caste from the Negro," paper presented at Atlanta University, May 1892	423
	"A Tribute to Frederick Douglass," paper presented at Atlanta University, January 1893	427
	College Poems
	"The Class of '94"	431
	"Grandmother's Bible"	435
	"A Dream"	435
	"Sonnet"	436
	"Sonnet--The Secret"	436
	"Class Poem"	437
	Notes	443
	Bibliography	445
	Index	449