The third person raptured by God into heaven was Elijah […]

to play pitch and toss with the property of the country

In fact, this educator, lawyer, editor, composer, author, poet, and diplomat [James Weldon Johnson] would become a sturdy fulcrum for black America's transition in 1916 from the softspoken conformity and accommodation of the Booker T. Washington era to a vigorous militant idealism that targeted no less than full equality.

The experience shook my religious belief.