George Marion Johnson

George Marion Johnson (May 22, 1900 – August 11, 1987)[1] was an American lawyer and professor who was the first vice chancellor of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

Early life and education

Johnson was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico[2] and raised in San Bernardino, California; he earned Bachelor's and LL.D. degrees from the University of California, Berkeley in 1923 and 1929, and in 1938 earned a J.S.D. there, one of the first African American holders of the degree.[3]

Career

In 1929 Johnson started practicing as a tax attorney; he was subsequently the first African American California State Assistant Tax Counsel.[3]

He moved to academia as a professor at Howard University, and then in World War II was acting General Counsel to the Fair Employment Practice Committee, which oversaw the prevention of discrimination in defense industries. In 1946 he became dean of the Howard University School of Law,[4] where he founded the Howard Law Review Journal. He also assisted one of his predecessors, Charles Hamilton Houston, in the preparation of Supreme Court briefs on behalf of the NAACP. In 1957 he was appointed to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.[3][5]

In 1960, when Nigeria became independent, Johnson was a founder of the University of Nigeria and was appointed its first vice chancellor. He held the position until 1964,[3] when he was succeeded by Glen L. Taggart.[6] He subsequently worked at Michigan State University as a professor of education and at the University of Hawaii as a professor of law and director of the Preadmission Program.[3]

Personal life and death

Johnson was married to Evelyn Johnson. He died in 1987 in Honolulu.[1]

References
  1. J. Clay Smith, Jr. (1988). "George Marion Johnson, 1900–1987". Proceedings of the Annual Meeting. Association of American Law Schools.
  2. Nomination of George M. Johnson: Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Constitutional Rights...86-1, on Nomination of George M. Johnson, of California, to be a Member of the Commission on Civil Rights, April 21, 1959. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Senate, Judiciary Committee. 1959. p. 9.
  3. "Johnson, George Marion (1900-1989)". The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed. Retrieved 2017-12-20.
  4. Rayford W. Logan (1969). Howard University: the First Hundred Years, 1867-1967. New York: New York University. p. 376. OCLC 67501.
  5. Irving Bernstein (1991). Promises Kept: John F. Kennedy's New Frontier. New York / Oxford: Oxford University. p. 50. ISBN 9780195046410.
  6. Nanette Larsen (January 1988). "Glen L. Taggart: Educator with a Global View". Ensign. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Retrieved 2017-12-20.
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