James Weldon Johnson
1871 - 1938
James Weldon Johnson was an American writer and civil rights activist. He was married to civil rights activist Grace Nail Johnson. Johnson was a leader of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), where he started working in 1917. In 1920, he was chosen as executive secretary of the organization, effectively the operating officer. He served in that position from 1920 to 1930. In 1928 and then again in 1930 he received Rosenwald fellowships from the Rosenwald Fund to write Black Manhattan.