The James Weldon Johnson Residence located at 187 West 135th Street, Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, New York, is where James Weldon Johnson lived from 1925 until his death in 1938. In addition to being a composer, song writer, and author, he was an outspoken advocate for civil rights, working in various roles at the NAACP, including General Secretary.
The building was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1976.
Famous quotes containing the words james weldon, james, weldon, johnson and/or residence:
“It is from the blues that all that may be called American music derives its most distinctive character.”
—James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938)
“The only reason for the existence of a novel is that it does attempt to represent life.”
—Henry James (1843–1916)
“Young man—Young man—Your arm’s too short to box with God.”
—James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938)
“I have thought of a pulley to raise me gradually; but that would give me pain, as it would counteract my natural inclination. I would have something that can dissipate the vis inertiae and give elasticity to the muscles.... We can heat the body, we can cool it; we can give it tension or relaxation; and surely it is possible to bring it into a state in which rising from bed will not be a pain.”
—Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)
“My residence was more favorable, not only to thought, but to serious reading, than a university; and though I was beyond the range of the ordinary circulating library, I had more than ever come within the influence of those books which circulate round the world, whose sentences were first written on bark, and are now merely copied from time to time on to linen paper.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)