Mordecai Wyatt Johnson
Mordecai Wyatt Johnson (January 4, 1890 – September 10, 1976) was an American educator and pastor. He served as the first African-American president of Howard University, from 1926 until 1960. Johnson has been considered one of the three leading African-American preachers of the early 20th-century, along with Vernon Johns and Howard Thurman.
Early life
Johnson was born on January 12, 1890, in Paris, Tennessee, to parents who were former slaves. His father was Reverend Wyatt J. Johnson, a preacher and mill worker. His mother, Carolyn Freeman, was a domestic worker for one of the prominent families in town.[1]
Education
Johnson attended a small elementary school in his native town. Afterward, he moved to
He transferred to the Atlanta Baptist College (now
After one year of teaching, he continued his education at the
Family
Johnson married Anna Ethelyn Gardner on December 25, 1916. They had five children: Carolyn Elizabeth Johnson, Mordecai Wyatt Johnson Jr., Archer Clement Johnson, William Howard Johnson, and Anna Faith Johnson.
Career
Following a brief stint as secretary of the western region of the Student
Presidency of Howard University
On June 26, 1926, at the age of 36, Johnson was unanimously elected the eleventh President of
During his tenure, Johnson appointed Charles Hamilton Houston as dean of the law school, who played a significant role in dismantling the Jim Crow laws.
Johnson raised millions of dollars for new buildings and for upgrading all of the schools. National honor societies, including Phi Beta Kappa, were established on the campus of Howard.
During his administration, it was said that Howard had the greatest collection of
- Rhodes Scholar,
- Nobel Laureate;
- Charles R. Drew, who perfected the use of blood plasma;
- Percy Lavon Julian, a noted chemist; and
- Sterling Allen Brown, professor of English and noted Harlem Renaissance poet;
- Merze Tate, diplomatic scholar and first African American woman to attend the University of Oxford.[3]
Johnson brought Howard University into national prominence and served as president of Howard for 34 years, since 1926 until his retirement in 1960. In this time the enrollment at Howard University increased from 2,000 in 1926 to more than 10,000 in 1960.
Johnson the Orator
Johnson was an annual speaker for the Education Night at the National Baptist Convention, a speaker at the Ford Hall Forum in Boston, and spoke alongside Martin Luther King Jr. and others at the 1957 Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom. He traveled 25,000 miles a year throughout the country speaking principally on topics such as racism, segregation, and discrimination.[4] In 1951 he was a member of the American delegation to the NATO meetings in London.
Awards and recognitions
In 1929, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) awarded Johnson the Spingarn Medal (its highest honor at that time), for Johnson's ability to secure annual federal funds to support the university's financial future.[4]
Death
Johnson died on September 10, 1976, at the age of 86, in Washington, D.C.
References
- ^ a b "Johnson, Mordecai Wyatt (1890-1976)". BlackPast.org. 29 January 2007. Retrieved 10 July 2010.
- ^ "The Story of Howard University's First Black President, Mordecai Wyatt Johnson".
- JSTOR 24482196.
- ^ a b Mordecai Wyatt Johnson: Biography Answers.com
- Yenser, Thomas (editor), Who's Who in Colored America: A Biographical Dictionary of Notable Living Persons of African Descent in America, Brooklyn, New York, 1930-1931-1932 (third edition)