movement death_date death_place birth_place nationality notableworks birth_date image article_title name occupation
harlem renaissance 26 june 1938 wiscasset , maine , united states jacksonville , florida , united states american `` the autobiography of an ex-colored man '' , '' god lift 's trombones '' , '' along this way '' ev'ry voice and sing , '' '' 17 june 1871 jamesweldonjohnson.jpg james weldon johnson
 james weldon johnson author , activist , educator , lawyer , diplomat
james weldon johnson

james weldon johnson -lrb- june 17 , 1871june 26 , 1938 -rrb- was an american author , educator , lawyer , diplomat , songwriter , and civil rights activist .
johnson is best remembered for his leadership of the national association for the advancement of colored people -lrb- naacp -rrb- , where he started working in 1917 .
in 1920 he was the first black individual to be chosen as executive secretary of the organization , effectively the operating officer .
he served in that position from 1920 to 1930 .
johnson established his reputation as a writer , and was known during the harlem renaissance for his poems , novels , and anthologies collecting both poems and spirituals of black culture .
he was appointed under president theodore roosevelt as us consul in venezuela and nicaragua for most of the period from 1906 to 1913 .
in 1934 he became the first african-american professor to be hired at new york university .
later in life he was a professor of creative literature and writing at fisk university .
