Words Of Promise

By Jodie A. Shull

Subjects: Juvenile literature, Biography, Biography & Autobiography, American Authors, Nonfiction, Civil rights, juvenile literature, Juvenile Nonfiction, Johnson, james weldon, 1871-1938, juvenile literature, Civil rights workers, Civil rights, Johnson, james weldon, 1871-1938

Description: A teacher and principal, a lawyer, an entertainer, a diplomat, and a writer, James Weldon Johnson spent his entire life working to help African Americans gain the rights and respect they deserved. The first black chief executive of the NAACP, Johnson lived from the end of Reconstruction in the South through the exciting years of the Harlem Renaissance. He spent his life keeping the promise of equality alive, not only through his actions but through his words—“Lift Every Voice and Sing. Facing the rising sun of our new day begun, Let us march on till victory is won.”