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James Weldon Johnson
James Weldon Johnson Was Born June 17, 1871, In Jacksonville, Florida.
In November, 1900, James Weldon Johnson And His Brother, John Rosemond Johnson, Composed The Song, "Lift Ev'ry Voice And Sing," Generally Known As The Black National Anthem.
Author And Educator James Weldon Johnson Served As General Secretary Of The NAACP From 1920 - 1930, Resigning To Teach Creative Literature At Fisk University. Johnson Was The First Black Executive Secretary Of The NAACP.
Johnson Was A True Renaissance Man. During His Distinguished Career He Was A Lawyer (He Was The First Black Person Admitted To The Florida Bar), Diplomat (U.S. Consul To Venezuela And Nicaragua), Educator, Civil Rights Activist Poet, Editor, Literary Critic And Author.
As An African American Literary Critic And Author, Johnson Had A Profound Influence On Black Literature In The 1900's. He Was A Major Presence During the Harlem Renaissance.
His Books Includes The Autobiography Of An Ex-Colored Man (1912), The Book Of American Negro Spirituals (1925) And Black Manhattan (1935).
Johnson Died June 26, 1938.
"In Order For Black History To Live, We Must Continue To Breathe Life Into It." -- Hubert Gaddy, Jr.
Posted By: Hugh Gaddy
Wednesday, June 17th 2009 at 1:08AM
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Excellent information!
Wednesday, June 17th 2009 at 6:56PM
MIISRAEL Bride
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Mr. Wately,
Once again, I'm going to reach "back" and offer a quote by Adam Clayton Powell, in response to comment about Black Folk being "subjugated." He said (and I agree): “Freedom is an internal achievement rather than an external adjustment.”
When I post my blogs each day, I'm not "concentrating on the past," I'm HONORING my past and KEEPING ALIVE The stories of the people upon whose shoulders I proudly stand.
The issues of Black Sovereignty and Independence are not "new subjects" either. They've been discussed (in the PAST) by everyone from Frederick Douglass and Bishop Henry McNeal Turner, to Marcus Garvey and Malcolm X.
My Brother, the issues impacting the lives of people within the Black diaspora, are broad and complex. But even our current issues are LINKED to our past... these subjects are centuries old.
I contend that to acknowledge the past, is NOT to live in it. My business mantra is "Celebrating Who We Are By Honoring Who We Were." I will continue to do that.
Wednesday, June 17th 2009 at 9:37PM
Hugh Gaddy
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I'm still waiting for action OVER Rhetoric, Henry
Saturday, January 30th 2010 at 10:38AM
Hugh Gaddy
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Hello Mr. Daddy,
I just happened to click on your blog and saw that you posted me back in June 17, 2009.
I am sorry to say that BIA did not notify me that I had a comment from you. Please accept my apology and I will certainly take the opportunity to respond now.
I remember Mr. Adam Clayton Powell. I admire any of our people who sincerely desired a change of life style for Black Americans out of subjugation. However, many of us just do not rationalize well enough despite all of our good intentions. How our problems could permanently be resolved and who could do it.
For instance, Mr. Powell said, “freedom is an internal achievement rather than an external adjustment” this statement is absolutely irrational. It is like telling an incarcerated person that he is free if he would only think and believe that he is free. Yet he will wake up, eat and go to sleep as the prison officials wants him to do, am I right. Freedom is freedom!
Next, you made mention that sovereignty is not something new. That sovereignty was discussed as far back as Mr. Frederick Douglass era.
However, has it not crossed your mind that the time will come and it has come that someone among us would be the one to bring about our sovereignty? Likewise, there were many Hebrews that discussed their bondage and slavery in what could be done about it. But, there came a time that there was only one chosen by God to bring about a permanent solution and that one was Prophet Moses. There is no difference today with the Hebrew people and Black Americans as to how our problems will permanently be resolved. Do you get my point? Am I making any sense with you Mr. Hugh? In other words, could you connect the dots?
I am the way, and besides me, there is no other way that black Americans could ever become a real people in this world.
Tell me what you think.
Friday, April 16th 2010 at 11:31AM
Harry Watley
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GADDY... YOU ARE BRILLIANT.... and I dig.. how you are choices this week have been LEGENDS FROM FLORIDA....
I PARTICULARLY LOVE THIS POEM WRITTEN BY JOHNSON:
And God stepped out on space,
And he looked around and said:
I'm lonely--
I'll make me a world.
And far as the eye of God could see
Darkness covered everything,
Blacker than a hundred midnights
Down in a cypress swamp.
Then God smiled,
And the light broke,
And the darkness rolled up on one side,
And the light stood shining on the other,
And God said: That's good!
Then God reached out and took the light in his hands,
And God rolled the light around in his hands
Until he made the sun;
And he set that sun a-blazing in the heavens.
And the light that was left from making the sun
God gathered it up in a shining ball
And flung it against the darkness,
Spangling the night with the moon and stars.
Then down between
The darkness and the light
He hurled the world;
And God said: That's good!
Then God himself stepped down--
And the sun was on his right hand,
And the moon was on his left;
The stars were clustered about his head,
And the earth was under his feet.
And God walked, and where he trod
His footsteps hollowed the valleys out
And bulged the mountains up.
Then he stopped and looked and saw
That the earth was hot and barren.
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.
Then the green grass sprouted,
And the little red flowers blossomed,
The pine tree pointed his finger to the sky,
And the oak spread out his arms,
The lakes cuddled down in the hollows of the ground,
And the rivers ran down to the sea;
And God smiled again,
And the rainbow appeared,
And curled itself around his shoulder.
Then God raised his arm and he waved his hand
Over the sea and over the land,
And he said: Bring forth! Bring forth!
And quicker than God could drop his hand,
Fishes and fowls
And beasts and birds
Swam the rivers and the seas,
Roamed the forests and the woods,
And split the air with their wings.
And God said: That's good!
Then God walked around,
And God looked around
On all that he had made.
He looked at his sun,
And he looked at his moon,
And he looked at his little stars;
He looked on his world
With all its living things,
And God said: I'm lonely still.
Then God sat down--
On the side of a hill where he could think;
By a deep, wide river he sat down;
With his head in his hands,
God thought and thought,
Till he thought: I'll make me a man!
Up from the bed of the river
God scooped the clay;
And by the bank of the river
He kneeled him down;
And there the great God Almighty
Who lit the sun and fixed it in the sky,
Who flung the stars to the most far corner of the night,
Who rounded the earth in the middle of his hand;
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 is his own image;
Then into it he blew the breath of life,
And man became a living soul.
Amen.Amen.
James Weldon Johnson
Friday, April 16th 2010 at 11:43AM
Cynthia Merrill Artis
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GADDY WHAT HAPPEND TO YOUR BLOG ON MAYA ANGELOU?
Friday, April 16th 2010 at 11:44AM
Cynthia Merrill Artis
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I contend that to acknowledge the past, is NOT to live in it. My business mantra is "Celebrating Who We Are By Honoring Who We Were." I will continue to do that.
THANK YOU FOR THIS... WE MUST HONOR OUR PAST!!!
Friday, April 16th 2010 at 11:50AM
Cynthia Merrill Artis
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Great Poem, Cynthia!! The Angelou Blog is posted now
Friday, April 16th 2010 at 12:27PM
Hugh Gaddy
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THANKS... I TOLD YOU I WAS WAKING UP TO YOUR BLOG....LOL
I LOVE JAMES WELDON... YOU ARE THE BOMB DIGGITY.... HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND
CHECK YOUR EMAIL....
Friday, April 16th 2010 at 1:00PM
Cynthia Merrill Artis
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Harry every time you post something on this topic of Black sovereignty, I ask you the same question and you NEVER answer it. Again What, SPECIFICALLY, Are YOU Doing To Bring This About? It seems that you're caught up in the "paralysis of analysis." It's Time for ACTION. my Brother. And as for the statement by Mr. Powell, I I don't agree with your interpretation at all. The concept of Freedom begins in one's mind. Until we liberate our minds and spirit from those things that bind us, we'll never be able to liberate our community. That's MY interpretation of Mr. Powell's quote.
Friday, April 16th 2010 at 1:07PM
Hugh Gaddy
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Mr. Gaddy, my brother, please do not wreck your nerves trying to get through to Mr. Harry Watley. I can't understand how Harry could make so many predictions that fail to bear fruit. He acts no different from the modern day weatherman.
Thursday, May 13th 2010 at 12:40PM
Siebra Muhammad
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Hello Mr. Gaddy,
You asked, again What, SPECIFICALLY, Are YOU Doing To Bring This About?
Specifically speaking, what I am doing to bring sovereignty about is waking you, Siebra, Mr. Clark and 41 million other Black Americans up. You all need to know that our only permanent solution is our desire to become a sovereign people on a portion of this continent that we could call our very own country with borders. That we may pursue life, liberty, happiness and prosperity in our own way. And, believe you me convincing you all is a hell of a task all by itself. It is not easy waking up mentally dead people. If Moses was alive, I am sure that he would back me up.
For instance, what good does it do 41 million Black Americans to know that In November, 1900, James Weldon Johnson And His Brother, John Rosemond Johnson, Composed The Song, "Lift Every Voice And Sing," Generally Known As The Black National Anthem when Black Americans are not a sovereign people?
Now, if there is anything wrong about being a sovereign people that we may pursue life, liberty, happiness and prosperity in our own way then all of you are right and I am wrong. Does that make any sense to you Mr. Gaddy?
Therefore, what you and the other mentally deadheads could begin to do is give me one good reason why Black Americans should not be a sovereign people on a portion of this continent that we could call our very own country with borders, okay.
Consequentially, it should be easy for you to understand how difficult it is to raise 41 million mentally dead people to a perpendicular based on Siebra, Mr. Clark and your dilemma to understand what specifically it is that I am doing to bring sovereignty about.
Well, anyway, that is what I am doing; specifically speak.
Tell me what you think.
Friday, May 14th 2010 at 6:10PM
Harry Watley
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Harrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry!
It's not nice to call people mentally deadheads. Why should we continue to be interested in what you are talking about, if you insult us every chance you blog. You can't resurrect the mind of those who won't lend an ear to hear what you're saying.
Every invention of man was first concieved in the mind, therefore everything that you see was created first from the thought process.
Friday, May 14th 2010 at 9:05PM
Helen Lofton
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Harry, I'm taking Siebra's sound advice with regard to you.
I will say only this: a post about about James W. Johnson may not have ONE THING to do with YOUR cause, but it may have EVERYTHING to do with inspiring a Young Black Child, and THAT, my Brother, is MOST IMPORTANT to ME!!
A piece of advice to to you; Marcus Garvey had to hone his communication skills before he could get a following. He never insulted his people...he knew what HE had to do. If you can't reach the masses of us "mentally Deadheads," maybe you need to work on becoming a more effective communicator.
In the meantime, you may want to connect with this Brother who left a comment on another of my blogs... you two deserve each other:
Bro. Hugh...hello
So when do you get serious about life of today.......what is going on this day in this time.
Jamal Abraham
PEACE & BLESSINGS
Hugh Gaddy
Friday, May 14th 2010 at 10:40PM
Hugh Gaddy
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Tooshay!!! Gaddy.... Now That's What I'm Talkin Bout'.... And my son reads your blogs too!! Very Inspiring and educational
Tuesday, May 18th 2010 at 12:41PM
Cynthia Merrill Artis
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Gaddy..... I AM LAUGHING MY BEHIND OFF.... @ THIS COMMENT RITE HERE!!
((In the meantime, you may want to connect with this Brother who left a comment on another of my blogs... you two deserve each other:))
THE SO CALLED MESSENGERS... They know exactly who they are.... Moses and the Engineer...... ((LOL)) .... ((LOL))....
tHANK YOU... I needed this today!!!
Tuesday, May 18th 2010 at 12:45PM
Cynthia Merrill Artis
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I will be with you brother Gaddy as soon as I possiably as right now I am way back studing our peoples when we were hunter gathers.(smile)
Thursday, April 10th 2014 at 6:47PM
ROBINSON IRMA
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"WE SHALL OVER COME SOME DAY" but there will always be a need to believe we are not #1 inour own lives therefore will continue to refuse to even give things like truth and respect for self and others aka treating others as we want them to treat us..
.because we are human beings who comes with human behaviors that can not over come...
the need to remain STUCK ON STUPID by any means necessary. (smile)
thank you Gaddy, Greg and Doc. for all that you do. (smile)
Thursday, April 10th 2014 at 6:47PM
ROBINSON IRMA
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