Allen Johnson (activist)

Allen Johnson was a leader in the Civil Rights Movement, an activist in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and he was also a minister of religion. Johnson is the grandfather of Georgetown law professor Vida Johnson.

Allen Johnson
Born
Allen Johnson
OccupationClergyman, activist
OrganizationSouthern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
Political partyDemocratic
MovementCivil Rights Movement, Peace movement

Early life & family

Johnson was the son of the Reverend L. E. Johnson. L. E. Johnson, was the head pastor at Pratt Memorial United Methodist Church in Jackson, Mississippi.[1] After heading the church for four years, L. E. Johnson became district superintendent of the Jackson District.[1] Johnson was an officer in the United States Army.[2]

Minister

In 1963, Johnson, like his father once had, became the head pastor at Pratt Memorial United Methodist Church in Jackson, Mississippi.[1] Johnson helped the church with fundraising and organization.[1] Johnson organized an inspirational choir, a youth choir and a children's choir. With the fruits of Johnson's fundraising efforts, funds were used to pay off the church and parsonage indebtedness.[1]

Civil rights movement leader

Evers march

In 1963, after Medgar Evers was assassinated by white supremacists for his civil rights leadership, an estimated five thousand people marched from the Masonic Temple on Lynch Street to the Collins Funeral Home on North Farish Street in Jackson. Johnson, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders led the procession.[3]

Southern Christian Leadership Conference

In 1966, Johnson hosted the Tenth Annual Southern Christian Leadership Conference at the Masonic Temple in Jackson.[4] The theme of the conference was human rights - the continuing struggle.[4] Those in attendance, among others, included: Dr. King, Edward Kennedy, James Bevel, Ralph Abernathy, Curtis W. Harris, Walter E. Fauntroy, C. T. Vivian, Andrew Young, The Freedom Singers, Charles Evers, Fred Shuttlesworth, Cleveland Robinson, Randolph Blackwell, Annie Bell Robinson Devine, Charles Kenzie Steele, Alfred Daniel Williams King, Benjamin Hooks, Aaron Henry and Bayard Rustin.[4]

March Against Fear

Also, in 1966, Johnson participated in the March Against Fear, which is also known as the "Meredith March." At the closing rally near the Mississippi State Capitol in Jackson, Johnson preached alongside Dr. King.[5] Dr. King spoke of his dream "that one day the empty stomachs of Mississippi will be filled, that the idle industries of Appalachia will be revitalized."[5] Johnson prayed from the thirteenth chapter of Hebrews: "Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unaware. Remember them that are in bonds as though bond with them, and them which suffer adversity, as being ourselves also in body."[5][6]

Klan bombing

In the fall of 1967, the Ku Klux Klan placed a bomb under the floor of a parsonage where Johnson and his family slept. The parsonage was connected to St. Paul's United Methodist Church in Laurel, Mississippi. However, no one was injured when the bomb exploded.[7] Allen Johnson and his family were targeted because he was an activist in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the larger civil rights movement.[8][9] The bombing was part of several months of violence by the Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi.[7][10] The morning after the bombing, Johnson's wife sent her children to school so that everyone in town knew that the Johnson family was not intimidated by the bombing.[7]

NAACP

Johnson was active in the NAACP.[11] At one time, Johnson was the Mississippi NAACP assistant field secretary.[12] Through his participation in the NAACP, Johnson participated in the Mississippi Voter Registration and Education League (MVREL).[12] In the spring of 1967, Johnson coordinated eight MVREL seminars to train people in voter registration.[12]

Business leader

Johnson led a businessman's parade in Jackson and was beaten during that peaceful demonstration.[2] Johnson recalled: "It was during this demonstration that this white man who struck me said, 'You cannot walk on our street.' We have heard them say, 'My state.' We want to say, 'Our state.' We have fought for it, we have bled for it, we are concerned, our children are in it, and we want to help it."[2]

Political involvement

Johnson was interested in politics and considered running for public office.[2] Around 1967, Johnson and Charles Evers decided to start a very quiet whispering campaign that encouraged blacks to vote for William Winter in the Mississippi's governor's race.[13] The leaders whispered because any public expression of black support would have damaged a white candidate in the eyes of many white voters.[13]

In 1968, with the support of the Mississippi AFL-CIO, Johnson coordinated workshops that taught African-Americans how to participate in local Democratic party meetings.[12] Johnson and other activists aimed to send a delegation to the 1968 Democratic National Convention.[12]

Death and legacy

In 2013, United States Congressional Representative Bennie Thompson honored Pratt Memorial United Methodist Church and Johnson.[1] Johnson's activism inspired his granddaughter, Vida Johnson, to go to law school.[7]

References
  1. Thompson, Bennie. "Honoring Pratt Memorial United Methodist Church". Library of Congress. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  2. Mills, Kay (August 2007). This Little Light of Mine: The Life of Fannie Lou Hamer. The University of Press of Kentucky. p. 352. Retrieved 7 September 2015. reverend allen johnson.
  3. O'Brien, M. J. (March 1, 2013). We Shall Not Be Moved: The Jackson Woolworth's Sit-In and the Movement It Inspired. Univ. Press of Mississippi. p. 118. ISBN 9781617037436. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  4. "Program from the SCLC's Tenth Annual Convention". The King Center. Archived from the original on 26 September 2015. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  5. Branch, Taylor (2006). At Canaan's Edge: America in the King Years, 1965-68. Simon & Schuster. Retrieved 7 September 2015. reverend allen johnson.
  6. Hebrews 13:2
  7. Smith, Abbe; Freedman, Monroe. How Can You Represent Those People. palgrave.
  8. Dittmer, John (1994). Local People: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi. University of Illinois Press.
  9. Johnston, Araminta (17 December 2010). And One Was a Priest: The Life and Times of Duncan M. Gray Jr. University of Press of Mississippi. ISBN 9781604738292. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  10. Garrow, David. "Many Birminghams: Taking Segregationists Seriously". Southern Changes. Archived from the original on 1 February 2016. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  11. Sweet, Grace (2013). Church Street: The Sugar Hill of Jackson, Mississippi. The History Press. ISBN 9781626191112. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  12. Draper, Alan (1994). Conflict of Interests: Organized Labor and the Civil Rights Movement in the South, 1954 - 1968. Cornell University. ISBN 0875463169. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
  13. Bolton, Charles (8 July 2013). William F. Winter and the New Mississippi: A Biography. The University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 9781617037870. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
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