Description: A classic work that traces the New York black experience from the pre-revolutionary period to the triumphant achievements of Harlem in the 1920s. Featuring a foreword by Zadie Smith.
Brief description: James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938) was an early civil rights activist, a pioneering leader of the NAACP, and a leading figure in the creation and development of the Harlem Renaissance. Johnson's first success as a writer was the poem "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing" (1899), which became known as the "Negro National Anthem." His published works include The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (1912), God's Trombones (1927), and Black Manhattan (1930).