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Title: THE ESSENTIAL WRITINGS OF JAMES WELDON JOHNSON
Editor: Rudolph P. Byrd
Why We Chose it: Although he's best known for writing the Negro national anthem, "Lift Every Voice and Sing," Johnson was a renaissance man who, through words, contributed to American politics, society, literature, and music. If that doesn't epitomize BackList's mission, we don't know what does.

Synopsis: One of the leading voices of the Harlem Renaissance and a crucial literary figure of his time, James Weldon Johnson was also an editor, songwriter, founding member and leader of the NAACP, and the first African American to hold a diplomatic post as consul to Venezuela and Nicaragua. This comprehensive volume of Johnson's works includes the seminal novel Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, poems from God's Trombones, essays on cultural and political topics, selections from Johnson's autobiography, Along This Way, and two previously unpublished short plays: Do You Believe in Ghosts? and The Engineer. Featuring a chronology, bibliography, and a Foreword by acclaimed author Charles Johnson, this Modern Library edition showcases the tremendous range of James Weldon Johnson's writings and their considerable influence on American civic and cultural life.