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The inspirational sermons of the old Negro preachers are set down as poetry in this collection -- a classic for more than forty years, frequently dramatized, recorded, and anthologized. Mr. Johnson tells in his preface of hearing these same themes treated by famous preachers in his youth; some of the sermons are still current, and like the spirituals they have taken a significant place in black folk art. In transmuting their essence into original and moving poetry, the author has also ensured the survival of a great oral tradition. Book jacket.
A Harlem Renaissance classic: seven inspirational poems inspired by the powerful rhetorical traditions of African-American sermons and spirituals. James Weldon Johnson, the co-author of "Lift Every Voice and Sing" and author of The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, was a leading figure of the Harlem Renaissance. In God's Trombones, one of his most celebrated works, the rich tradition of inspirational sermons by Black preachers are reimagined as poetry, reverberating with the musicality and splendid eloquence of the classic spirituals. This collection includes "The Creation," "The Prodigal Son," "Go Down Death (A Funeral Sermon)," "Noah Built the Ark," "The Crucifixion," "Let My People Go," and "The Judgment Day," and includes the remarkable original illustrations by artist Aaron Douglas.
James Weldon Johnson transforms seven inspiring spiritual sermons of African American preachers into poetry and equates the Black oral tradition with the sweeping tonal ranges of the trombone, which most closely resembles the human voice.
An award-winning retelling of the Biblical creation story from a star of the Harlem Renaissance and an acclaimed illustrator James Weldon Johnson, author of the civil rights anthem "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing," wrote this beautiful Bible-learning story in 1922, at the height of the Harlem Renaissance. Set in the Deep South, The Creation alternates breathtaking scenes from Genesis with images of a country preacher under a tree retelling the story for children. The exquisite detail of James E. Ransome's sun-dappled paintings and the sophisticated rhythm of the free verse pay tribute to Black American oral traditions of country sermonizing and storytelling: As far as the eye of God could see/ Darkness covered everything/ Blacker than a hundred midnights/ Down in a cypress swamp. . . . This beautiful new edition of the classic Coretta Scott King Award winner features a fresh, modern design, a reimagined cover, and an introduction of the remarkable life of James Weldon Johnson. Beneath the dust jacket, the case features a detail of Ransome's beautiful night sky, spangled with stars. A Junior Library Guild selection!
God's Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse is a 1927 book of poems by James Weldon Johnson patterned after traditional African-American religious oratory. African-American scholars Henry Louis Gates and Cornel West have identified the collection as one of Johnson's two most notable works, the other being Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man. Johnson observed an absence of attention in folklore studies to what he called a "folk sermon," then went on to describe its nature and specific examples from his memory: I remember hearing in my boyhood sermons that were current, sermons that passed with only slight modifications from preacher to preacher and from locality to locality. Such sermons were: "The Valley of Dry Bones," which was based on the vision of the prophet in the 37th chapter of Ezekiel; the "Train Sermon," in which both God and the devil were pictured as running trains, one loaded with saints, that pulled up in heaven, and the other with sinners, that dumped its load in hell; the "Heavenly March," which gave in detail the journey of the faithful from earth, on up through the pearly gates to the great white throne. Then there was a stereotyped sermon which had no definite subject, and which was quite generally preached; it began with the Creation, went on to the fall of man, rambled through the trials and tribulations of the Hebrew Children, came down to the redemption by Christ, and ended with the Judgment Day and a warning and an exhortation to sinners. Johnson explains the title's use of the trombone by discussing the vocal and rhetorical qualities of a preacher he had recently heard who, he felt, exemplified the compelling and persuasive nature of the folk preacher, naming the trombone as "the instrument possessing above all others the power to express the wide and varied range of emotions encompassed by the human voice - and with greater amplitude." He also cited a dictionary definition that noted the trombone as being the brass instrument most resembling the range and sound of the human voice. The seven poems were composed primarily in 1926, with "Go Down[, ] Death" being composed in the space of a single afternoon on Thanksgiving Day, 1926, and the remaining five poems during a two-week retreat; "The Creation," the first poem of the set, had been composed about 1919. The work went on to find acclaim in many circles, proving "enormously popular among both the black cognoscenti as well of the masses of black Americans" and being used widely in oratorical contests; poet Owen Dodson wrote Johnson in 1932 to tell him that Dodson and his brother had taken first and second place in a poetry-recitation competition with works from that volume. Gates and West particularly note that the work "attempts a mimetic capturing of the black church sermon... without making recourse to the misspellings and orthographic tricks often employed in representing black vernacular speech." Dorothy Canfield Fisher, in a personal letter to the poet to thank him and offer to help promote the collection, praised the work as "heart-shakingly beautiful and original, with the peculiar piercing tenderness and intimacy which seems to me special gifts of the Negro. ...it is a profound satisfaction to find those special qualities so exquisitely expressed." The poem "The Creation" was used in the 1951 film Five, serving as the soliloquy for the character Charles, played by African-American actor Charles Lampkin. Lampkin convinced film-maker Arch Oboler to include excerpts of the poem in the final script of Five where it would become Lampkin's soliloquy for his character Charles. This may be the first time that audiences in the USA, Latin America, and Europe were exposed to African-American poetry, albeit not identified as such in the film. (wikipedia.org)
First published in the year 1912, 'The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man' by James Weldon Johnson is the fictional account of a young biracial man, referred to as the "Ex-Colored Man", living in post-Reconstruction era America in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
A poem based on the story of creation from the first book of the Bible.
African-American scholars have cited James Weldon Johnson's 1927 book of poems, "God's Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse" as one of the author's most notable works. Johnson, who is best known for his 1912 work, "The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man", was an American writer and civil rights activist born in Jacksonville, Florida in 1871. As a leader of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Johnson helped to bring awareness to the problem of black lynching in America during the first part of the 20th century as well as other civil rights issues that people of color faced in America. A collection of eight poems, "God's Trombones" draws upon the tradition in the black church of drawing upon black folklore to preach the word of god. The title of the work has been described by Johnson as a metaphor for the powerfully persuasive nature of the vocal and rhetorical qualities of the sermons of a folk preacher. Immediately upon its publication "God's Trombones" would go on to achieve great critical acclaim in the black community further helping to establish Johnson as one of the principal figures of the Harlem Renaissance. This edition is printed on premium acid-free paper.
The autobiography of the celebrated African American writer and civil rights activist Published just four years before his death in 1938, James Weldon Johnson's autobiography is a fascinating portrait of an African American who broke the racial divide at a time when the Harlem Renaissance had not yet begun to usher in the civil rights movement. Not only an educator, lawyer, and diplomat, Johnson was also one of the most revered leaders of his time, going on to serve as the first black president of the NAACP (which had previously been run only by whites), as well as write the groundbreaking novel The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man. Beginning with his birth in Jacksonville, Florida, and detailing his education, his role in the Harlem Renaissance, and his later years as a professor and civil rights reformer, Along This Way is an inspiring classic of African American literature. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.