North Florida Music Hall of Fame

James Weldon Johnson

Born in Jacksonville in 1871; became principal of then-segregated Stanton High School in 1900. He and his brother Rosamond co-wrote the song “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” later to become known as the “Negro National Hymn” (not the “Black National Anthem,” as it is commonly called). Johnson was also a practicing attorney (the first black member of the Florida bar) and a poet. He moved to NYC in 1901, where he became a founding member of the NAACP.