In this episode, we discuss the life and legacy of James Weldon Johnson. A leader of the Harlem Renaissance, he wrote fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. He also wrote lyrics for many songs, including “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing,” popularly regarded as the Black National Anthem. Johnson raised public awareness of lynching and fought Jim Crow laws through his activist work with the NAACP, of which he was President during the 1920s. He was also a lawyer, diplomat, newspaperman, opera libretto translator, and creative literature professor at Fisk University.
Johnson celebrated the artistry and diversity of African-American culture—most of it overlooked, misinterpreted, or dismissed. God’s Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse is written in the format of “folk sermons” delivered by “old-time Negro preachers.” Not an ideologue, and more of a freethinker himself, Johnson nonetheless appreciated and celebrated the artistry of Black oratorical tradition.
For this episode, we are joined by visual artist Dayo Johnson and poet Gregory Pardlo. Dayo is a Nashville-based artist who recently made a portrait of Johnson (see below) for the American Writers Museum’s travelling exhibit Dark Testament: A Century of Black Writers on Justice. Gregory is a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet who also wrote the introduction to the recent publication of God’s Trombones.
Dayo and Gregory are interviewed by Nate King, Content & Exhibits Manager at the American Writers Museum. This conversation originally took place July 7, 2025 and was recorded over Zoom.
I would like to thank the participants.Dayo Johnson.and Gregory Pardio for this very.educational program on the life.and.work of port James Weldon .johnson And a special note of pride to Dayo Johnson for the wonderful portrait of James Weldon Johnson