God's Trombones

James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938) was a revered African American civil rights leader, diplomat, lawyer, novelist, poet, and songwriter in the Harlem Renaissance. He also coauthored the hymn “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” known as the Black national anthem. God’s Trombones, one of Johnson’s most celebrated works, transforms seven uplifting spiritual sermons of African American preachers into poetry. God’s Trombones equates the Black oral tradition and its characteristic cadence with the sweeping tonal ranges of the trombone, which most closely resembles the human voice. This classic collection includes “Listen, Lord — A Prayer”; “The Creation”; “The Prodigal Son”; “Go Down Death — A Funeral Sermon”; “Noah Built the Ark”; “The Crucifixion”; “Let My People Go”; and “The Judgment Day.”