Life and educational history of James Weldon Johnson

James Weldon Johnson was born in the year 1871. He was a great artist who wrote several songs and poems in the late eighteenth century. James Weldon Johnson was born in the city of Jacksonville in Florida. In his life periods, he attained several major achievements in life. Weldon was born of a father who was a headwaiter in one of the luxurious hotels in the city of Jacksonville, Florida (Johnson and Rudolph, 47). Other than being a headwaiter, Weldon Johnson’s father was a schoolteacher in one of the schools in the city of Jacksonville. This made Weldon Johnson to undertake his studies in the City of Jacksonville. Weldon finished his high school studies in one of the institutions in the City of Jacksonville, Florida upon which he was admitted to Atlanta University.

After graduating from Atlanta University, Johnson Weldon got the job of being a principal in one of the former schools that he had learnt. As a principal, Weldon progressed with studies. He took further studies in law, a fact that made him be admitted to the Florida Bar. It is of critical importance to highlight the fact that alongside the academic achievements, Weldon Johnson was also a gifted artist. He wrote several songs, poems and other literary works. It is prudent enough to note that his art of composing songs started way back in the eighteenth century. In the year 1900, Weldon Jackson wrote the song was titled “Lift Every Voice and Sing” (Johnson and Rudolph, 74). Weldon Johnson’s brother by the name John Rosamond, in the school event that was scheduled to celebrate the birthday of Lincoln, set this song to music.

Following this, the song gained remarkable popularity and was later on declared the “Negros’ National Hymn” by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. However, in the year 1901, Weldon Johnson went to visit his brother who was living in New York and stayed with him there for a while. In their stay, they composed and wrote more songs with the Broadway Shows (Johnson and Rudolph, 59). Five years later after joining his brother in New York, Weldon Johnson gave up the issue of songwriting in a move that saw him become a United States Consul in the country of Venezuela. However, three years after being posted to Venezuela, Weldon was later transferred to Nicaragua. This was in the year 1909. That is the time Weldon Johnson started writing about his novel. This was in form of an autobiography and it was entitled “Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man”. The book was published in the year 1912 following a unanimous approval.

In the autobiography, James Weldon Johnson tells of a story of a young biracial man by the name Ex-Colored Man. This story majorly dwells on the racial prejudices as well as the discriminations that befell the blacks in America from the eighteenth century. The songs that characterize this autobiography are those full of paradox of race and color as was experienced in the earlier days of America (Johnson, 39). The songs depict a sense of encouragement in the perception of the readers, as well as, the fictitious subjects who were the victims of racial discrimination. The people being referred to in the autobiography, though in the form of a fictitious story, are the Black Africans who found their roots in America. At the time, racial prejudice was so strong in America. This brought a major drift between the blacks and the whites. The blacks were so much alienated and regarded as mentally inferior. The general perception of the whites in America was that the Black Americans had relatively low mental capacity to aide them in progressing in life. This was quite evident in the way Weldon Jackson descried some instances when the blacks were discriminated upon.

The story centers on a major character just referred to as “Ex-Colored Man”. This offers a paradox of reason in determining the balance of perception on the issue of racism relevant to Ex-Colored Man. This follows that the main character, Ex-Colored Man, is a man who claims a biracial origin (Johnson, 56). He is a white by skin color but black in descent. In this regard, it is quite had to tell where the man belongs with regards to race. However, the Ex-Colored man is shown to embrace the issue of being a white more than that of being a black or a Nigger. This follows that he never wants to identify with the racial stigmatism that is hurled on the blacks. This is evident when the Ex-Colored Man passes to become a white. The main character, the Ex-Colored man is depicted as a person who values the sense of individualism. He never wanted to associate so much with the fact that he was partially of black origin. It seems as if this was contributing a lot towards causing some form of annoyance. He did not want to associate so much with the blacks since he considered them also less superior. A good example is depicted when Weldon was discussing with him on the way and generalizing his speech.

” I, in referring to the race, used the personal pronoun “we”; my companion made no comment about it, nor evinced any surprise, except to slightly raise his eyebrows the first time he caught the significance of the word. He was the broadest minded colored man I have ever talked with on the Negro question. He even went so far as to sympathize with and offer excuses for some white Southern points of view. I asked him what were his main reasons for being so hopeful. He replied, “In spite of all that is written, said and done, this great, big, incontrovertible fact stands out,–the Negro is progressing, and that disproves all the arguments in the world that he is incapable of progress. I was born in slavery, and at emancipation was set adrift a ragged, penniless bit of humanity. I have seen the Negro in every grade, and I know what I am talking about. Our detractors point to the increase of crime as evidence against us; certainly we have progressed in crime as in other things; what less could be expected?.” (Johnson and Rudolph, 36)

The fact that black man raises eyebrows when Weldon used the personal pronoun “we” referring to the black leaves a lot to question. It means the Ex-Colored Man did not want to associate with the blacks following the inequities, discrimination and racial prejudice that have befallen them since they found their way to the United States. This is also depicted in his ironical talk when he describes the possible outcomes associated with progresses made by the Blacks in life (Johnson and Sondra, 56). Any progress made by Negros is seen as an opportunity geared towards causing social harm in the future. This is too controversial and depicts a high degree of racial prejudice as well as racial discrimination.

It is of crucial importance to highlight that music always plays a critical role in enhancing knowledge amongst individuals. Music may be used to inform people on certain things. In addition, music can be used to rebuke certain wrongdoings of different individuals within the society. Moreover, music can take the role of offering encouragement to the individuals who may be oppresses with certain situations in life. Several music always have certain tunes that are quite enlightening (Johnson, 36). Moreover, some tunes and lyrics are always full of the grievances shared by the populations forming the environment in which the composition draws basis. Such may involve tones of grief, rebuke, appraisal and discrimination. It is of critical importance to highlight the fact that regardless of the content of the music, most music are always composed with regards to the current or emergent situations as well as the oppressive histories that the population may have underwent.

Other than the oppressive histories in the past, music can also dwell on the constructive histories, thereby enlightening the listeners as well as informing them of the way things should be done. It is an indisputable fact that there are different forms of music. Some of these forms of music may include rap songs, gospel music, pop music as well as blues (Johnson, 56). In addition, the other forms of music include jazz and ragtime. Jazz and ragtime are some of the music types that draw their roots from the African Americans in the United States of America. These forms of music came in to the music industry following the oppression that the Black Americans or the Negros underwent when they were in United States in the earlier days.

There are several similarities that exist between the music in the Autobiography of Ex-Colored Man by James Weldon Johnson and that of “The Blues I am playing” by Langston Hughes. The music in the autobiography of James Weldon is of three different forms. First, the similarity comes in the forms or types of music used in the two autobiographies. There are secular music, ragtime and jazz forms of music. These two individuals use these forms of music in different ways (Johnson, 36). Both James Weldon Johnson and Langston Hughes, in order to shun the form of racial discrimination and prejudice that the Negros underwent in the earlier times when they were in the United States of America, use these forms of music. The songs bring a sense of enlightenment and sensitization concerning the historical injustices that faced the black race in the United States.

In concern to the above, it is of critical significance to highlight that Langston Hughes bears the greatest responsibility of brining to existence the Harlem Renaissance in the African-American literature (Hughes, 32). The tunes of the songs, rhythms as well as composition in Langston Hughes’ music, “The Blues I am Playing” brings a form of genre that depicts the life of Negros with some form of cultural development (Johnson and Rudolph, 46). It is of crucial importance to note that the two types of music namely the jazz and the blues characterizing the music of Langston Hughes are the major elements enveloped in the Harley Renaissance. However, on the contrary, the major forms of music that characterize the works of Weldon were the jazz and the ragtime (Johnson and Rudolph, 47). In his artistic works, a number of music have been composed by Langston Hughes that portray his sentiments, feelings and opinions on the issue of oppression, discrimination and racial prejudice that the Black Americans underwent.

The music touches on the racial discrimination that the white Americans practiced on their fellow black citizens (Johnson and Rudolph, 74). Hughes Langston issues a strong sense of criticism on the forms of oppression that the Black Americans underwent in the United States. He provide several evidences in the music “The Blues I am Playing” that shows the issues and realities that his fellow Black Americans faced within the American society (Johnson, 36). The music portrays that the racial oppression, prejudice and discrimination against the Black American people was evident and became extremely dominant in the twentieth century. Langston Hughes succeeds to bring his sentiments through the music by bringing in two women characters namely Oceola Jones and Mrs. Dora Ellsworth (Hughes, 32). These are the two main characters in his artistic work in the music “The blues I am Playing”. Dora Ellsworth in her part is depicted as a white American. She is still at her middle age and is already a widow. On the other hand, Oceola Jones is depicted as a Black American who is of African origin (Johnson and Rudolph, 51). Both the women had shared different perspectives with regards to marriage. The white woman, Mrs. Dora, becomes upset at the fact that Oceola wants to get married, thereby trying to discourage her.

On the same note, James Weldon Johnson also depicts a strong sense of racial prejudice, discrimination and oppression in his music autobiography entitled “Ex-Colored Man”. He depicts several forms of oppression and injustices that the blacks underwent in the earlier days in America under the hands of the whites. The oppression, discrimination and racial prejudice were so dominant that even in schools, the blacks and whites had two different groupings (Johnson and Rudolph, 71). In addition, even conversation between blacks and whites was hampered following the strong sense of discrimination that the blacks were subjected to. James Weldon Johnson’s music majorly dwelt on two forms namely jazz and ragtime. He majorly used these forms of music following the fact that they gained prominence and fame amongst the people of America who were his major subjects in writing the songs (Johnson and Sondra, 56). With this advantage, he gained the opportunity of sharing his sentiments and opinions with regards to the issue of racial discrimination, racial prejudice as well as oppression. He used this opportunity to enlighten the people on the several cases of racial prejudice that was subjected to the Negros in America. This helped in informing the people of the negatives that were associated with the issue of racial prejudice.

Works Cited

Top of Form

Hughes, Langston. The Blues I’m Playing: A Story. New York: C. Scribner, 1934. Print. Bottom of Form

Johnson, James W, and Rudolph P. Byrd. The Essential Writings of James Weldon Johnson. New York: Modern Library, 2008. Internet resource.

Johnson, James W, and Sondra K. Wilson. Along This Way. New York, N.Y: Penguin Books, 2008. Print.

Johnson, James W. The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man. Radford, Va: Wilder Publications, 2008. Print.