Indeed James Weldon Johnson would be remembered after his death for his prolific political and cultural insight. He was born on June 17, 1871, in Jacksonville, Florida. Both of his parents were freeborn, and his family was relatively well-to-do. Johnson's father, James Johnson, was the head waiter in local resort hotel and the minister of a small church. His mother, Helen Louise Johnson, was the daughter of a prominent black civil servant in Nassau. She was well educated and taught in the local black school. Johnson had one brother, John Rosamond Johnson, and an adopted sister, Agnes M. Edwards.

Johnson attended Stanton School, in Jacksonville, where his mother and eventually his sister taught. The school provided only an elementary education, but Johnson was an apt student and received encouragement at home. At this time he became fluent in Spanish through association with a young Cuban who was his family's ward. In 1887 Johnson entered the junior preparatory department of Atlanta University. Despite a year's absence he advanced rapidly to the college department and was graduated in 1894. During his year's absence he continued his studies in Greek and Latin under a private tutor, and he also had access to the library of a local white physician. It was during his school years that Johnson began to write poetry and songs, and he also at that time set out to develop himself as a public speaker. Johnson's associations with Atlanta University continued to be productive throughout his life. Among the alumni of the school were a substantial number of college teachers, college administrators, and businessmen, with whom Johnson became acquainted later in his life. From 1924 until his death he was an active member of the school's Board of Trustees.

After graduating from Atlanta, Johnson returned to Jacksonville to take over the principalship of Stanton School. Each year he added a grade to the school until he developed Stanton into a high school. Becoming recognized as a leader in black education, Johnson was elected president of the Negro State Teacher's Association. He retained the principalship of Stanton School until 1902, but did not limit his interests to his duties there. With a group of friends he founded The Daily American, the first daily black newspaper in the country. Though the paper met with initial success the backers were forced to suspend publication after eight months. Johnson then turned his attention to reading for the law. In 1897 he passed the entrance examination for the Florida State Bar, becoming the first black man licensed in that state by an open examination. He found, however, that there was little chance of a black man making a living from the practice of law.

Johnson's most important activity outside of Stanton School was lyric writing. His brother, J. Rosamond Johnson, in partnership with Bob Cole, was beginning to be successful in musical comedy. Rosamond persuaded his brother to add words to some tunes he had written, and between 1899 and 1902 Johnson spent his winters at Stanton and his summers in New York writing lyrics. The monumental collaboration between James Weldon Johnson, Bob Cole and John Rosamond Johnson is revealed through over a hundred pieces of sheet music in the collection, which span the first decade of the 20th century. As James Weldon Johnson recalls, "Bob was one of the most talented and versatile Negroes ever connected with the stage. He could write a play, stage it, and play a part. Although he was not a [classically] trained musician, he was the originator of a long list of catchy songs."

The trio produced two important operettas with all black casts: The Red Moon (1909) and The Shoo-Fly Regiment (1906). The Red Moon, the story of a Minnehaha, the heroic daughter of an Indian chief and African American woman, incorporated African American and Native American folklore and was billed as "ambitious", a "sensation in red and black"⁴⁸. Several songs from The Red Moon and The Shoo-Fly Regiment appear in the James Weldon Johnson Collection, including Big Indian Chief, The Big Red Shawl, Hoola-Woola, I Ain't Had No Lovin' in a Long Time, De Bo'd of Education, Floating Down the Nile, Won't You Be My Little Brown Bear?, and There's Always Something Wrong. Many of the Cole and Johnson brother hits were sung by the most popular musical stars of the period, including May Irwin, Marie Cahill, Fay Templeton, Lillian Russell, Anna Held, Virginia Earle, Marie George, Mabell Gilman⁴⁹.

One such hit was Under the Bamboo Tree, which became according to J. Rosamond, "One of the greatest international hits in the history of popular music. The song was made famous by Marie Cahill." Notably, the collection also includes the sheet music for Louisiana Lize, the team's first published melody, part of the 1900 production of The Belle of Bridgeport. Also in 1900, the Johnsons collaborated on one of their most important compositions, Lift Every Voice and Sing (1900), which garnered anthem status, and became popularly designated the Negro National Anthem.

Between 1902 and 1906 he attended Columbia University, taking courses in literature from Brander Matthews. Johnson was also active in New York politics, helping to found the Colored Republican Club of New York, and serving as its president.

Johnson entered the United States Consular Service in 1906. This came about largely as a result of his activities on behalf of the Republican Party and the efforts of Booker T. Washington and Charles W. Anderson, an influential black New York politician. He was assured of a good career in the service as long as the Republicans were in power, and served as a consul for six years. From 1906 to 1909 he was posted in Puerto Cabello, Venezuela. This post was considered a sinecure even though Johnson performed the consular duties there for Cuba, Panama, and France as well as for the United States. In 1909 he was promoted and transferred to Corinto, Nicaragua, where Johnson's duties were more demanding than they had been at Puerto Cabello. During his stay in Corinto that city for several days was the scene of gunfire resulting from an attempt to overthrow the Nicaraguan government. Johnson negotiated with both sides and coordinated his actions with the United States Navy.

While Johnson was in the consular service he continued to write poetry and managed to have some of his pieces published. In 1910, he married Grace Nail, a member of a wealthy and distinguished black New York family. He also found time to write a novel, The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, (1912). Johnson made a good record in the consular service but as consular posts were at that time used for political patronage, opportunities for advancement would disappear with the advent of a Democratic administration in 1913. Rather than face a long period of service in Corinto, Johnson resigned from the service in 1913 and returned to Jacksonville to put his father's estate in order. After remaining there for a year he began to divide his time between Jacksonville and New York, in order to reestablish himself as a lyricist. He collaborated with Will Marion Cook, Harry T. Burleigh, and James Reese Europe, the top talents of the period. Musical taste, however, had changed greatly in the preceding ten years, and Johnson had little success. He did translate the libretto of Fernando Periquet's Goyescas, which was performed at the Metropolitan Opera House.

Johnson met with more success outside the field of music. In 1914 he became a contributing editor to the New York Age, and in 1917 his first volume of poetry, Fifty Years and Other Poems, was published. The Age under the editorship of Fred Moore was an influential black paper with strong ties to Booker T. Washington. Johnson wrote a weekly column called "Views and Reviews" and contributed unsigned editorials. Through his association with the Age he was invited to the Amenia Conference of 1916. There he met and impressed Joel E. Spingarn. Despite Johnson's position on an anti-N.A.A.C.P. paper, Spingarn offered him the job of Field Secretary for the Association, which he accepted.

Johnson's association with the N.A.A.C.P. continued from 1916 until his death. As Field Secretary he helped establish a strong network of local branches. He expanded the organization in the South, a section that had not received emphasis in the National Office. In 1920 Johnson became the Executive Secretary of the Association, and in that year he investigated for the Association the nature of the United States occupation of Haiti. As a result of this investigation he wrote a series of articles called "Self Determining Haiti". Johnson's tenure in the secretaryship marked the strengthening of the National Office, reflecting the growing influence of the organization. He was particularly active in lobbying for an anti- lynching bill. In 1931 Johnson resigned the secretaryship, was elected to the Board of Directors, and became one of the vice-presidents of the organization in which he remained active for the rest of his life. After his resignation from the National Office of the N.A.A.C.P., Johnson was appointed to the Spence Chair of Creative Literature at Fisk University.

During the years he was Executive Secretary of the N.A.A.C.P., Johnson continued his interest in black music and poetry. As Secretary he had contact and close friendships with New York's leading liberals and publishers and used his influence to promote his own work and that of the young black writers of the Harlem Renaissance period. Johnson's second book of poetry, God's Trombones, was published in 1927. He also prepared three anthologies of black poetry and music:The Book of American Negro Poetry (1922, revised 1931);The Book of American Negro Spirituals, (1925); and The Second Book of American Negro Spirituals, (1926). In 1930 Johnson received a Rosenwald Fellowship, which he used to write a cultural history of blacks in New York, Black Manhattan (1930).

Johnson's move to Fisk began the last phase of his life. Most of his time was devoted to teaching at Fisk and at New York University. He continued his interest in young black writers as well as in his own writing. Johnson published three more books in this last phase of his life: Negro Americans, What Now? (1934); Along This Way, The Autobiography of James Weldon Johnson, (1934); and a volume of poetry, Saint Peter Relates An Incident, (1936). Johnson also undertook several lecture tours each year, speaking most frequently on some aspect of the race situation, or the "Negro's Contribution to American Culture." In addition to being on the Board of Directors of the N A.A.C.P. and the Board of Trustees of Atlanta University, he was a member of the Board of Trustees of Palmer Memorial Institute, and he lent his name and support to many other organizations, including the American Fund for Public Service, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Delta Phi Delta journalistic society.

James Weldon Johnson died in 1938 at the age of 67, when his car was struck by a train at a railway crossing.