Negro Americans, What Now by Johnson, James Weldon - 1934

New York: The Viking Press, 1935. Hardcover. USED Good/No Jacket. Second printing. There's some wear to the title panel on the spine. Previous owner's name on front pastedown. Text clean.

New York: The Viking Press, 1934. First Edition, First Printing. Very Good/No Dust Jacket. Red cloth with paper title labels; the top edge stained red; 7.5 inches tall; viii. 103 pages. The bindings are tight and square. Text clean, light even toning. Minimal shelf handling wear. Previous ownership stamps on the front endpages. . James Weldon Johnson, a key figure in the Harlem Renaissance, and a prolific American author authored. He was a leader in the NAACP, diplomat to Venezuela, and the inaugural African-American professor at New York University, In this important yet very elusive work, this extended essay evaluates the circumstances facing Black Americans and their avenues for progress, exploring themes such as education, political engagement, and the evolution of the Black Church as a societal institution. Johnson places particular emphasis on education, observing that "there is hardly an important page of American history that can be fully and truthfully written without reference to the… Read More

New York: The Viking Press, 1935.. viii,103pp. Original blue cloth, printed paper labels. Spine sunned, endpapers tanned. Very clean internally. Near fine. A presentation copy of the second edition of James Weldon Johnson's important work, inscribed by Johnson to City College president and prominent scholar of race relations, Buell G. Gallagher. This second edition was published in February 1935, four months after the first. Johnson was a leading African-American writer, civil rights activist, and executive secretary of the NAACP; in 1934, he also became the first African-American professor at New York University. In the present work, Johnson considers the options afforded to African Americans in the 1930s and advocates for aggressive but nonviolent use of local and national organizations, both secular and religious, alongside public institutions to agitate for racial equality. The year after the first edition was published, Johnson's fiery essay made it on to the Tennessee Division of School… Read More

New York: The Viking Press, 1934. Hardcover. Good. First edition in an apparently unrecorded variant binding of dark blue cloth. All othercopies we have seen are in red cloth. Small octavo. Dark blue cloth with publisher's printed label on front cover, and contemporary (publisher's?) polished black leather spine overlay titled in gilt. African-American scholar Laurence G. W. Hayes' copy, with annotations by him throughout the text and with his early ink signature on front pastedown. Newspaper review of this title on front pastedown. "James W. Johnson/ 7/9/34" in ink, but does not appear to be in the hand of Johnson, presumably it is in the hand of Hayes. Wear and small nicks at tips of spine and corners, polished leather spine overlay is nicked along edges; a good copy. An interesting association copy in an unrecorded variant binding.