James Weldon Johnson

A beautiful new edition of a classic Coretta Scott King Award winner. And far as the eye of God could see/ Darkness covered everything/ Blacker than a hundred midnights/ Down in a cypress swamp Luminary JAMES WELDON JOHNSON'S poetic retelling of the story of creation from the Bible is gorgeously illustrated by celebrated artist JAMES RANSOME.

Reproduction of the original: The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man by James Weldon Johnson

Reproduction of the original: Fifty Years & Other Poems by James Weldon Johnson

Reproduction of the original: Fifty Years & Other Poems by James Weldon Johnson

Reproduction of the original: Self-Determining Haiti by James Weldon Johnson

Reproduction of the original: Self-Determining Haiti by James Weldon Johnson

The Book of American Negro Poetry By James Weldon Johnson

The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (1912/1927) by James Weldon Johnson is the fictional account of a young biracial man, referred to only as the "Ex-Colored Man," living in post-Reconstruction era America in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He lives through a variety of experiences, including witnessing a lynching, that convince him to "pass" as white to secure his safety and advancement, but he feels as if he has given up his dream of "glorifying" the black race by composing ragtime music.

Fifty years & Other Poems By James Weldon Johnson