Maine lawmakers heard testimony Tuesday on a bill that would name a railroad crossing on Route 1 in Wiscasset after James Weldon Johnson, a lawyer, diplomat and poet who died in a car crash at the crossing in 1938.
Johnson, who was born in 1871 in Florida, is best-known for writing the lyrics for “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” a hymn that’s now often referred to as the “Black National Anthem.” Johnson was the first Black man admitted to the Florida Bar after Reconstruction, a longstanding executive secretary for the NAACP and a diplomat for President Theodore Roosevelt. Johnson was also a key figure in the Harlem Renaissance.
While visiting Maine with his wife in 1938, Johnson died when his car collided with a train at the railroad crossing in Wiscasset. This legislative session, State Sen. Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Cumberland, introduced a bill that would name that intersection the James Weldon Johnson Crossing.
During a hearing of the Legislature’s transportation committee on Tuesday, Talbot Ross said this would be the first railroad crossing in Maine to be named through legislation.
“In honoring a place of James Weldon Johnson’s death, it gives us the opportunity to learn about his life and his legacy that I hope all Americans feel that they can honor and celebrate and aspire to be,” Talbot Ross said.
Six people spoke in favor of the dedication, including Dawud Ummah, a Turner resident who agreed with Talbot Ross that dedicating the crossing to Johnson would give Mainers an opportunity to learn about his life. Ummah also said “Lift Every Voice and Sing” resonated with him after he returned from military service in the Gulf War.
“The impact of the poem is one thing, but most people don’t actually know the man’s life, and I think Maine has an opportunity to be on the forefront of supporting this type of activity and supporting this type of work,” Ummah said.
Nobody spoke against the bill at Tuesday’s hearing. The proposal is also due to get a hearing in Wiscasset on Wednesday.
Jules Walkup is a Report for America corps member. Additional support for this reporting is provided by BDN readers.