James Weldon Johnson House

The two-story, wood frame house at 911 Dr JB Todd Jr Blvd was built in 1931 and became the home of James Weldon Johnson, a professor at Fisk University in the 1930s. Johnson and his brother wrote the song "Lift E'vry Voice and Sing," sometimes called the "Black National Anthem." He is known for his poetry, his anthologies of African American poetry, and his activism with the NAACP. The Dutch Colonial style house is covered in clapboard siding and features a pedimented front porch. There is an historical marker about Johnson on the front lawn. The James Weldon Johnson House is one of dozens of buildings that contribute to the National Register-listed Fisk University Historic District, listed in 1978.

James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938) was born in Jacksonville, Florida in 1871. He received degrees from Atlanta University and attended Columbia University. He worked as a school principal at the Stanton School in Jacksonville and then became a practicing attorney in 1898; Johnson was one of the first African Americans to be admitted to the Florida bar. In 1900, James wrote the poem Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing, which his brother, John Rosamund Johnson (1873-1954), a composer, set to music. Schoolchildren at the Stanton School were the first to perform the song in public, on the occasion of a celebration of Abraham Lincoln's birthday.

Johnson moved to New York City with his brother where the two wrote dozens of songs for Broadway shows. In 1906, James was appointed U.S. consul to Venezuela; he later served in Nicaragua. He married Grace Nail, a New Yorker in 1910; James W. was 30 and Grace was 16. In 1912, he published anonymously the book The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man. He returned to New York City from overseas in 1913 and was influential on a number of other African American writers in the Harlem Renaissance era.

Johnson was active in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in the late 1910s and 1920s. He retired from his position as executive secretary of the NAACP and moved to Nashville in 1930 to teach at Fisk University; he was the Adam K. Spence Professor of Creative Writing. James W. (age 50) and Grace (36) were still living in New York City in April 1930, at West 135th St. in Manhattan in a rental with a number of other African American families.

His autobiography, Along This Way, was published in 1933. In 1934, Johnson was appointed a Visiting Professor at New York University and the school's first African American faculty member. Johnson was still employed at Fisk when he died in the summer of 1938 in an accident in Maine when the car his wife was driving was hit by a train. Over 2,000 people attended his funeral in Harlem. The James Weldon Johnson House was still being used as a residence by Fisk University in 1977 when the building became a part of the Fisk University Historic District National Register nomination.

Davis, Jennifer. Lift Ev;'ry Voice and Sing: James Weldon Johnson and National Poetry Month, In Custodia Legis: Law Librarians of Congress. April 25th, 2016. Accessed November 5th, 2022. https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2016/04/lift-evry-voice-and-sing-james-weldon-johnson-and-national-poetry-month/.

Emory University. About James Weldon Johnson, James Weldon Johnson Institute for the Study of Race and Difference. January 1st, 2022. Accessed November 5th, 2022. http://jamesweldonjohnson.emory.edu/home/about/about-james-weldon-johnson.html.

Library of Congress. June 17 - John Weldon Johnson, Today in History. Accessed November 5th, 2022. https://www.loc.gov/item/today-in-history/june-17/.

Natl. Assn for the Advancement of Colored People. Lift Every Voice and Sing, NAACP. History Explained. January 1st, 2022. Accessed November 5th, 2022. https://naacp.org/find-resources/history-explained/lift-every-voice-and-sing.

Pilsk, Berle. Looney, Percy. NRHP Nomination of Fisk University Historic District. National Register. Washington, DC. National Park Service, 1977.

U.S. Census Bureau. Household of James W. Johnson at 187 W. 135th St. in Manhattan, New York, third family in dwelling, family 242. Washington, DC. U.S. Government, 1930.