James Weldon Johnson

What a hero to me, is a person that represents all the people in the world or in his or her community. James Weldon Johnson was a hero to me because of all the things that he has done for us during his lifetime.

James Weldon Johnson lived from June 17, 1871 to June 26, 1938. James Weldon Johnson was a famous author, poet, and he was a civil rights activist, and he was a good figure in the Harlem Renaissance. He was born in Jacksonville, Florida; he also was the first African American to get accepted to the Florida bar. He was in several public capacities, including as consul to Venezuela and Nicaraua, but he was best remembered for his writing that included novels, poems, and the collections of folklore. "In addition, Mr. Johnson was member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, inc. He was also one of the first African-American professors at New York University."

"Mr. Johnson's first major literary sensation was "The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man(1912)," a fictional account of a light-skinned black man's attempts to survive and succeed in the early 20th century. While serving as executive secretary of the NAACP, from 1920 through 1931, he released "God's Trombones," which is one of the works that he is remembered for today. Other things by Johnson included an opera, "Tolosa," and "Negro Americans, What Now" (1934), a book calling for civil rights for Afican Americans. Johnson composed the lyrics to "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing" for which his brother J. Roasamed Johnson composed the music. This song is commonly known as the 'Negro (or black)National Anthem.'"

"Mr. Johnson’s second collection of poetry, "God's Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse," appeared in 1927 and marks his last significant creative endeavor. His administrative duties for the NAACP were proving strenuous, and, after taking a leave of absence in 1929, he resigned as general secretary in 1930. During his final years he wrote a history of black life in New York that focuses on Harlem Renaissance entitled Black Manhattan (1930) his truly autobiographical Along This Way (1933) and Negro Americans, What Now? (1934), a book that argues for integration as the only viable solution to America's racial problems."

James Weldon Johnson died in 1938 when he was on vacation Wiscasset, Maine when the car he was driving was hit by a train. The reason that James Weldon Johnson was such a good hero was because he helped us lives our lives today with everything that he did back when he was alive.