The Book of American Negro Poetry [Paperback]

James Weldon Johnson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 8, 2008

James Weldon Johnson is the editor of The Book of American Negro Poetry. Johnson compiled this work because it was his belief that a group of people is not known for their greatness until their art and literature is known. Johnson believed that the status of the American Negro would be improved by making their literature known to the general public. The following is a list of poets included in this collection. Paul Dunbar, James, Campbell, James Corrothers, Daniel Davis, William Moore, W E DuBois, George McClellan, William Braithwaite, George Margetson, James Johnson, John Holloway, Leslie Hill, Ray Dandridge, Edward Jones, FentonJohnson, R Nathaniel Dett, Georgia Johnson, Claude McKay, Joseph Cotter Jr., Roscoe Jamison, Jessie Fauset, Anne Spencer, Alex Rogers, Alice Dunbar-Nelson, Charles Johnson, Otto Bohanan, Theodore Shackleford, Lucian Watkins, Benjamin Brawley, and Joshua Jones Jr.

Editorial Reviews

Review

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The Book of American Negro Poetry

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

About the Author

James Weldon Johnson (June 17, 1871 - June 26, 1938) was an American author, politician, diplomat, critic, journalist, poet, anthologist, educator, lawyer, songwriter, early civil rights activist, and prominent figure in the Harlem Renaissance. Johnson is best remembered for his writing, which includes novels, poems, and collections of folklore. He was also one of the first African-American professors at New York University. Later in life he was a professor of creative literature and writing at Fisk University. Born in Jacksonville, Florida, United States, died in Wiscasset, Maine, United States at the age of 67. Poetry To a Friend (1892) A Brand (1893) The Color Sergeant (1898) Lift Every Voice and Sing (1899) Sence You Went Away (1900) The Black Mammy (1900) O Black and Unknown Bards (1908) Brothers (1916) Fifty Years and Other Poems (1917) The Creation (1920) My City (1923) Go Down, Death (1926) God's Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse (1927) Saint Peter Relates an Incident (1935) The Glory of the Day was in Her Face Selected Poems (1936) Other works and collections The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (1912/1927) Self-Determining Haiti (1920) The Book of American Negro Poetry Harcourt, Brace, and Company (1922) Second Book of Negro Spirituals (1926) Black Manhattan (1930) Negro Americans, What Now? (1934) Along This Way (1933) The Selected Writings of James Weldon Johnson (1995, posthumous collection) --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: Book Jungle (May 8, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1605975303
• ISBN-13: 978-1605975306
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #203,442 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Glad to have found this again, May 10, 2009

By 

B. L. Rutledge "Grammydeer" (Stockton, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Book of American Negro Poetry (Paperback)

I came across this book some thirty years ago while in high school. To this day, there are poems from the book I remember. They are simply beautiful and the poets who wrote them artistic beyond measure. I, sadly, understand why we were not introduced to this book when I was young...a white child in an 99.9% white school and having been chastised for reading a 'black' book...but nowadays, children should be shown the wonderful works by these great poets, not have to find them by accident like I did.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fine Anthology with a Marvelous Introduction, August 20, 2011

By 

NanookMN "Iditarod" (Minneapolis, MN USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Book of American Negro Poetry (Kindle Edition)

After reading Johnson's intro, I find myself very curious about Phyllis Wheatley.
Her name is so familiar; her poetry is not. The book contains Johnson's The Creation, one of my all time favorite poems, and several I've never read before that appeared before Langston Hughes began publishing.