James Weldon Johnson Residence
   HOME

TheInfoList



Click Here for Items Related To - James Weldon Johnson Residence
OR:
James Weldon Johnson Residence on:   [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Amazon]

The James Weldon Johnson Residence is a historic apartment house located at 187 West 135th Street,
Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...
,
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
,
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
,
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
. It is here where
James Weldon Johnson James Weldon Johnson (June 17, 1871June 26, 1938) was an American writer and civil rights activist. He was married to civil rights activist Grace Nail Johnson. Johnson was a leader of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peop ...
(1871-1938) lived from 1925 until his death. In addition to being a composer, songwriter, and author, he was an outspoken advocate for civil rights, working in various roles at the
NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...
, including as its General Secretary during his residency here. The building was declared a
National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...
in 1976.


Description and history

The James Weldon Johnson Residence is located on the north side of West 135th Street, just east of its junction with Seventh Avenue in Manhattan's northern Harlem neighborhood. It is one of a pair of similar five-story brick buildings, which share styling and a
party wall A party wall (occasionally parti-wall or parting wall, also known as common wall or as a demising wall) is a dividing partition between two adjoining buildings that is shared by the occupants of each residence or business. Typically, the builder ...
. The buildings have Romanesque styling, with that on the left exhibiting a curved corner bay. The buildings share a projecting cornice with modillion blocks, as well as gabled roof over their entrances, which stand on either side of the party wall. The facades are each three bays wide, with sash windows set in rectangular openings with limestone sills and lintels. James Weldon Johnson occupied one of the units at #187 from 1925 until his death in 1938. Born in Florida in 1871 to middle-class African-Americans, Johnson was educated at
Atlanta University Clark Atlanta University (CAU or Clark Atlanta) is a private, Methodist, historically black research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Clark Atlanta is the first Historically Black College or University (HBCU) in the Southern United States. Founde ...
, and had a diverse career as an educator, composer, singer, author, and journalist. He was hired by the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. ...
(NAACP) in 1916, and held positions of importance in the organization for the rest of his productive life. He was instrumental in building the organization in the segregated South, and lobbied for anti-lynching legislation. He died in a car accident in 1938.


See also

*
List of National Historic Landmarks in New York City This article lists National Historic Landmarks in New York City, of which there are 116. One of the New York City sites is also a national monument, and there are two more national monuments in NYC as well. These are listed further below. It al ...
*
National Register of Historic Places listings in Manhattan above 110th Street List of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Manhattan above 110th Street This is intended to be a complete list of properties and districts listed on the National Register of Historic Places above 110th Street in the New York Cit ...


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, James Weldon, Residence History of African-American civil rights National Historic Landmarks in Manhattan Residential buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Manhattan