Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
The artists sang better than they knew and achieved a spiritual uplift for their people.
In plain terms
They sang songs that helped lift their race spiritually.
What can you take from it?
True impact often exceeds the creator's intent.

Where it applies

  • social movement
  • artistic creation
  • historical review

Putting it to work

  • creating art
  • teaching
  • social work

Questions to consider

  • What is the purpose of art?
  • Who benefits from your work?

Another view

It attributes a specific religious outcome that may not be universal.

More from James Weldon Johnson

  1. Whose starward eye Saw chariot 'swing low'? And who was he That breathed that comforting, melodic sigh, 'Nobody knows de trouble I see'?

    Permalink to quote #9
  2. Father, Father Abraham, To-day look on us from above; On us, the offspring of thy faith, The children of thy Christ-like love.

    Permalink to quote #11
  3. O black and unknown bards of long ago, How came your lips to touch the sacred fire? How, in your darkness, did you come to know The power and beauty of the min…

    Permalink to quote #8

Related quotes

  1. A grain of poetry suffices to season a century.

    Jose MartiJose Marti quote #10
  2. At present, I am a poet trying to be a soldier. To tell the truth, I am not interested in writing nowadays, except in so far as writing is the expression of so…

    Joyce KilmerJoyce Kilmer quote #1
  3. Because we are denied knowledge of our history, we are deprived of standing upon each other's shoulders and building upon each other's hard earned accomplishme…

    Judy ChicagoJudy Chicago quote #1