Johnson was raised with her cousin and future Harlem Renaissance novelist writer, Dorothy West, in Brookline, Massachusetts.

[2] Helene made this decision regardless of her previous awards and recognition and decided to stop writing for the public completely.

However, even out of the eye of the public, Johnson continued to write, and eventually, her work appeared in anthologies.

[4] The start of Johnson's literary career began when she became affiliated with the Saturday Evening Quill Club, where she claimed first prize in a short story competition sponsored by the Boston Chronicle.

She gained most of her notoriety from her work published in the journal of the National Urban League, Opportunity, which was a leading platform that showcased the talents of African-American artists.

She, along with Dorothy West, moved to Harlem in 1927, where they began taking classes at Colombia University to improve their writing.

The poem was known to illustrate varying aspects of African-American culture through vivid writing: "And he wouldn't be carrying no cane.

Though her free verse poems are more often anthologized, her sonnets offer complex and sometimes deliberately ambiguous portrayals of black women's integrity.

This is one way that Johnson exploits the nuances of the form to simultaneously embody and critique the American sonnet tradition[7] through her writing.

This meant that while coping with difficult topics in her poetry, the tone is soft, constant, and conventional, making her work stand out in its simplicity and gentle nature while still being able to get across bold points.

This poem portrays the gentleness of Johnson while writing about difficult topics: All day she heard the mad stampede of feet Push by her in a thick unbroken haste.

A thousand unknown terrors of the street Caught at her timid heart, and she could taste The city of grit upon her tongue.

This poem exemplifies her use of soft language integrated into her work while framing the harsh realities that live in her writing.

Other notable pieces from Johnson that highlight these social topics include “Trees at Night”, “The Road”,[5] and several others.

In William Stanley Braithwaite's writing, Anthology of Magazine Verse for 1926, there is a brief note that includes a list of a few of Helene Johnson's favorite poets.

This list includes Walt Whitman, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Carl Sandburg.

Johnson's inspiration for her writing tended to come from the world around her and what she observed in societal interactions between different categories of individuals.