At a very early age I began to thump on the piano alone, and it was not long before I was able to pick out a few tunes? I also learned the names of the notes in both clefs, but… — James Weldon Johnson Copy Share Image
My appearance was always good and my ability to play on the piano, especially ragtime, which was then at the height of its vogue, made me a welcome guest. — James Weldon Johnson Copy Share Image
There are a great many colored people who are ashamed of the cake-walk, but I think they ought to be proud of it. — James Weldon Johnson Copy Share Image
Nothing great or enduring, especially in music, has ever sprung full-fledged and unprecedented from the brain of any master; the best he gives to… — James Weldon Johnson Copy Share Image
Lift every voice and sing Till earth and heaven ring, Ring with the harmonies of Liberty. Let our rejoicing rise high as the listening… — James Weldon Johnson Copy Share Image
A people may become great through many means, but there is only one measure by which its greatness is recognized and acknowledged. The final… — James Weldon Johnson Copy Share Image
Americans are immensely popular in Paris; and this is not due solely to the fact that they spend lots of money there, for they… — James Weldon Johnson Copy Share Image
This Great God, Like a mammy bending over her baby, Kneeled down in the dust Toiling over a lump of clay Till He shaped… — James Weldon Johnson Copy Share Image
Shortly after this I was made a member of the boys choir, it being found that I possessed a clear, strong soprano voice. I… — James Weldon Johnson Copy Share Image
This country can have no more democracy than it accords and guarantees to the humblest and weakest citizen. — James Weldon Johnson Copy Share Image
So God stepped over to the edge of the world And He spat out the seven seas; He batted His eyes, and the lightnings… — James Weldon Johnson Copy Share Image
My mother was kept very busy with her sewing; sometimes she would have another woman helping her. — James Weldon Johnson Copy Share Image
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered, We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered. — James Weldon Johnson Copy Share Image
