Racism Quotes by James Weldon Johnson

11 Racism quotes by James Weldon Johnson

All Racism quotes James Weldon Johnson’s page

James Weldon Johnson’s thoughts on racism are gathered into eleven short passages that convey his historic voice. This small anthology offers a quick yet meaningful look at his ideas.

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As yet, the Negroes themselves do not fully appreciate these old slave songs.

James Weldon Johnson

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The colored people of this country know and understand the white people better than the white people know and understand them.

James Weldon Johnson

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Every race and every nation should be judged by the best it has been able to produce, not by the worst.

James Weldon Johnson

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Washington shows the Negro not only at his best, but also at his worst.

James Weldon Johnson

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I believe it to be a fact that the colored people of this country know and understand the white people better than…

James Weldon Johnson

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Southern white people despise the Negro as a race, and will do nothing to aid in his elevation as such; but for…

James Weldon Johnson

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It is a struggle; for though the black man fights passively, he nevertheless fights; and his passive resistance is more effective at…

James Weldon Johnson

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Northern white people love the Negro in a sort of abstract way, as a race; through a sense of justice, charity, and…

James Weldon Johnson

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I do not see how a people that can find in its conscience any excuse whatever for slowly burning to death a…

James Weldon Johnson

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I finally made up my mind that I would neither disclaim the black race nor claim the white race; but that I…

James Weldon Johnson

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“In this it is similar to the problem of the solar system. By a complex, confusing, and almost contradictory mathematical process, by…

James Weldon Johnson

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More by James Weldon Johnson

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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Young man, young man, your arm's too short to box with God.

James Weldon Johnson

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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

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This country can have no more democracy than it accords and guarantees to the humblest and weakest citizen.

James Weldon Johnson

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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

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My mother was kept very busy with her sewing; sometimes she would have another woman helping her.

James Weldon Johnson

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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

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