Johnson was one of several Harlem Renais-
sance figures who inspired fictional characters.
Novelist ARNA BONTEMPS celebrated Johnson’s
innocence and youth in his 1932 novel INFANTS
OF THESPRING.He modeled the character Hazel
Jamison after Johnson.
Helene Johnson was eulogized as a “[p]oet of
Harlem” when she died in July 1995.
Bibliography
Boyd, Valerie. Wrapped in Rainbows: The Life of Zora
Neale Hurston.New York: Scribner, 2003.
Kaplan, Carla. Zora Neale Hurston: A Life in Letters.New
York: Doubleday, 2002.
Lask, Thomas. “Poems and Songs by Negroes in Park.”
New York Times,15 August 1967, 32.
Mitchell, Verner, ed. This Waiting for Love: Helene John-
son, Poet of the Harlem Renaissance.Amherst: Uni-
versity of Massachusetts Press, 2000.
Pace, Eric. “Helene Johnson, Poet of Harlem, 89, Dies.”
New York Times,11 July 1995, D19.
Johnson, James Weldon (1871–1938)
A popular and effective race leader, scholar, lawyer,
and writer whose professional and creative accom-
plishments underscore the impressive talent that
shaped the Harlem Renaissance, James Weldon
Johnson was the first of three children born to
James and Helen Dillet Johnson. His parents, who
were of Bahamian origin, met in NEWYORKCITY.
His father was a studious, self-educated man who
worked as a headwaiter at a posh hotel, and his
mother was a schoolteacher and musician. Raised
in Jacksonville, Florida, he responded to his par-
ents’ belief in the power of education and his
mother’s love for literature and art. When Johnson
completed the program at the Stanton Central
Grammar School, he had no opportunity to attend
any high school because there was none for
African Americans in the segregated city of Jack-
sonville. His intrepid parents were determined that
his education continue and enrolled him in the rig-
orous preparatory program at ATLANTAUNIVER-
SITY. He completed his studies there and graduated
in 1894. He returned to Jacksonville, established
the Daily American,and became an enterprising
principal at the Stanton School, the segregated
grade school that he attended and at which his
mother worked. He instituted new programs and
established the state’s first high school curriculum
for African-American students. In 1897 he passed
the Florida bar exam. He was the first African
American in the state to be admitted to the bar
and the first African-American attorney in Florida
since Reconstruction.
Johnson relocated to New York City in 1901
and joined his brother J. Rosamond, a Boston Con-
servatory of Music graduate and emerging success-
ful songwriter. The brothers collaborated on an
impressive number of compositions, including the
1901 song “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” the work
that one day would be designated the Negro na-
tional anthem. The brothers also excelled as
dramatists and saw several of their works open at
New York City theaters such as the New Amster-
dam Theatre and the Liberty Theatre. From 1903
through 1906 Johnson pursued graduate studies at
COLUMBIAUNIVERSITY.Johnson, James Weldon 289James Weldon Johnson, NAACP officer, activist, author,
and diplomat (Yale Collection of American Literature,
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library)