James Weldon Johnson
(June 17, 1871 – June 26, 1938)

1333 R St. NW, greater U Street neighborhood, DC.

Author, politician, diplomat, critic, journalist, poet, anthologist, educator, lawyer, songwriter, and early civil rights activist, Johnson is remembered best for his leadership within the NAACP, as well as for his writing, which includes novels, poems, and collections of folklore.

Johnson's books of poems include: To a Friend (1892), Lift Every Voice and Sing (1899), O Black and Unknown Bards (1908), Fifty Years (1917), and God's Trombones (1927). He is also the author of the fictional The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (1912), and edited The Book of American Negro Poetry (1922) and The Book of American Negro Spirituals (1925).

He lived at this residence while working for the NAACP. Other jobs Johnson held include US Consul to Venezuela (1906-1908) and US Consul to Nicaragua (1909-1913), and Chair of Creative Literature at Fisk University.