The experience shook my religious belief.

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.

to play pitch and toss with the property of the country

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