James Weldon Johnson initially wrote it as a poem a year earlier, and his brother John Rosamond Johnson composed the music.

It is widely regarded as “The Black National Anthem.” In 1900, NAACP leader James Weldon Johnson wrote the hymn, while his brother, John Rosamond Johnson (1873–1954), composed the music.

Author and lyricist Johnson wrote significant work at his writing cabin in Great Barrington.