God's Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse

Written by James Weldon Johnson

Narrated by Robert Earl Jones, Calvin O. Butts and Joe Morton

As a young man in the late 1800s, James Weldon Johnson was profoundly influenced by the sermons he heard by the renowned black preachers of the day. Later in life, he transformed his memories into magnificent poems about Creation, the Flood, the Crucifixion, the Prodigal Son, Noah’s Ark, Judgment Day, and other stories from the Bible. Published in 1927, during the Harlem Renaissance, God’s Trombones became one of Johnson’s most celebrated works.

In the early 1990s, several of New York City’s most prominent African-American ministers gave voice to Johnson’s words for a PBS broadcast. Now available for the first time on CD, this celebration of one of the great literary achievements of the Harlem Renaissance features moving performances by actor Joe Morton (Brother From Another Planet, actor Robert Earl Jones (father of James), and Reverend Calvin O. Butts of the Abyssinian Baptist Church, among others.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HighBridge Audio
• Release date: Jan 14, 2009
• ISBN: 9781598876864

James Weldon Johnson

James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938) was an African American writer and civil rights activist. Born in Jacksonville, Florida, he obtained an education from a young age, first by his mother, a musician and teacher, and then at the Edwin M. Stanton School. In 1894, he graduated from Atlanta University, a historically Black college known for its rigorous classical curriculum. With his brother Rosamond, he moved to New York City, where they excelled as songwriters for Broadway. His poem “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” (1899), set to music by Rosamond, eventually became known as the “Negro National Anthem.” Over the next several decades, he dedicated himself to education, activism, and diplomacy. From 1906 to 1913, he worked as a United States Consul, first in Puerto Cabello, Venezuela, and then in Nicaragua. He married Grace Nail, an activist and artist, in 1910, and would return to New York with her following the end of his diplomatic career. While in Nicaragua, he wrote and anonymously published The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (1912), a novel exploring the phenomenon of racial passing. In 1917, Johnson began his work with the NAACP, eventually rising to the role of executive secretary. He became known as a towering figure of the Harlem Renaissance, writing poems and novels as well as compiling such anthologies as The Book of American Negro Poetry (1922). For his contributions to African American culture as an artist and patron, his activism against lynching, and his pioneering work as the first African American professor at New York University, Johnson is considered one of twentieth century America’s leading cultural figures.

Reviews for God's Trombones

[eddiebennett-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a very interesting work of seven black sermons done in verse.

[librisissimo · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

My interest in this volume of poems comes from a very vivid childhood memory of watching a broadcast performance of the music-dance version of "The Creation" - a very powerful work that left a very favorable impression of the writer's work.

[dubiousdisciple · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Excellent! This is a Penguin Classic, reprinted in 2008 from the original in 1927. It presents seven inspiring Negro sermons in verse.A thought-provoking statement comes from the Forward: “African Americans are the only people in the whole world and history who really practice Christianity.” No one else has ever found in their hearts the gift of forgiveness, the Forward claims. African Americans forgave the slave owners who worked them without payment for 240 years. This ability to forgive made many former slave owners uneasy, so incomprehensible was their forgiveness.These transplanted Africans accepted Jesus as their savior and laid all their worries on him. God’s trombones—the old time Negro preachers—were powerful, eloquent figures in their community. A community surviving on hope. When the lyricists wrote, “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, coming for to carry me home,” neither the singer nor the audience had to tax their imagination to consider death a sweet chariot or to doubt that heaven was their destination. When the folk-sermon was in full swing, a rhythmic dance to the beat of powerful voice, an electric current passed through the congregation.You don’t want to miss these seven poetic sermons.