A people may become great through many means, but there is only one measure by which its greatness is recognized and acknowledged. The final measure of the greatness of all peoples is the amount and standard of the literature and art they have produced.... No people that has produced great literature and art has ever been looked upon by the world as distinctly inferior.
- James Weldon Johnson
More Quotes By James Weldon Johnson
Amsterdam was a great surprise to me. I had always thought of Venice as the city of canals;... The colored people of this country know and understand the white people better than the white people know... You are young, gifted, and Black. We must begin to tell our young, There’s a world waiting for... Every race and every nation should be judged by the best it has been able to produce, not... The peculiar fascination which the South held over my imagination and my limited capital decided me in favor... My appearance was always good and my ability to play on the piano, especially ragtime, which was then... Lift every voice and sing Till earth and heaven ring, Ring with the harmonies of Liberty. Let our... This country can have no more democracy than it accords and guarantees to the humblest and weakest citizen.
Any musical person who has never heard a Negro congregation under the spell of religious fervor sing these... We have come over a way that with tears has been watered, We have come, treading... Young man, young man, your arm’s too short to box with God.
It’s no disgrace to be black, but it’s often very inconvenient.
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