Why weren’t great artists and activists like James Weldon Johnson in my school textbooks years ago? James Weldon Johnson (whose birthday is June 25th) was a musician, poet, civil rights leader in the early 20^th century, and more. He wrote several poetry collections including “God’s Trombones: 7 Negro Sermons in Verse” (1927) and also books of prose, such as “Negro Americans, What Now?” (1934). His multi-faceted career included serving as head of the NAACP during the 1920s, and as a diplomat in Latin America. Wow.