#is

I had enjoyed life in Paris, and, taking all things into consideration, enjoyed it wholesomely. ↗

— James Weldon Johnson

#consideration #enjoyed #had #i #into

Americans are immensely popular in Paris; and this is not due solely to the fact that they spend lots of money there, for they spend just as much or more in London, and in the latter city they are merely tolerated because they do spend. ↗

— James Weldon Johnson

#city #due #fact #immensely #just

Any musical person who has never heard a Negro congregation under the spell of religious fervor sing these old songs has missed one of the most thrilling emotions which the human heart may experience. ↗

— James Weldon Johnson

#congregation #emotions #experience #fervor #heard

As I look back now I can see that I was a perfect little aristocrat. ↗

— James Weldon Johnson

#back #i #i can #little #look

No member of our generation who wasn't a Communist or a dropout in the thirties is worth a damn. ↗

— Lyndon B. Johnson

#damn #generation #member #our #our generation

But I must own that I also felt stirred by an unselfish desire to voice all the joys and sorrows, the hopes and ambitions, of the American Negro, in classic musical form. ↗

— James Weldon Johnson

#american #classic #desire #felt #form

It is a struggle; for though the black man fights passively, he nevertheless fights; and his passive resistance is more effective at present than active resistance could possibly be. He bears the fury of the storm as does the willow tree. ↗

— James Weldon Johnson

#bears #black #could #does #effective

It is from the blues that all that may be called American music derives its most distinctive character. ↗

— James Weldon Johnson

#american music #blues #called #character #derives

Northern white people love the Negro in a sort of abstract way, as a race; through a sense of justice, charity, and philanthropy, they will liberally assist in his elevation. ↗

— James Weldon Johnson

#assist #charity #elevation #his #justice

The battle was first waged over the right of the Negro to be classed as a human being with a soul; later, as to whether he had sufficient intellect to master even the rudiments of learning; and today it is being fought out over his social recognition. ↗

— James Weldon Johnson

#being #classed #even #first #fought