Vernon Johns
Dr. Vernon Johns | |
---|---|
Born | Civil Rights Movement | April 22, 1892
Spouse | Altona Trent |
Children | Six children |
Dr. Vernon Johns (April 22, 1892 – June 11, 1965) was an American minister based in the South and a pioneer in the civil rights movement. He is best known as the pastor (1947–52) of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. He was succeeded there by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Johns was widely known in the black community across the South for his profound scholarship in the classics, his intellect, and his highly controversial and outspoken sermons on race relations, which were ahead of his time.[1]
Life
Johns was born in Darlington Heights, Prince Edward County, Virginia. Three of his grandparents had been enslaved. His paternal grandfather was hanged for killing his master. Johns's maternal grandfather was a Mr. Price, a white man. Price had a long-standing relationship with Johns's maternal grandmother. After killing another white man who tried to rape her, Price was convicted and served prison time. When she died young, their daughter Sallie Price (who later became Johns's mother) was raised by Price's white wife. The fact that Price was the father of the mixed-race girl Sallie was not generally acknowledged.[1]: 7
In 1915, Johns graduated from
After studying at the University of Chicago, Johns was called as a preacher to various congregations in Virginia, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. In 1926, he was the first African American to have his work published in Best Sermons of the Year.[3]
In 1927, Johns married Altona Trent. She was a pianist and music teacher who became a professor at what is now
In 1937 Johns was called again as a pastor of First Baptist Church in Charleston, West Virginia. In 1941, Johns returned to Lynchburg as pastor of Court Street Baptist Church, but was quickly forced to resign by the congregation and returned to the farm.[4]
His wife's connection to ASU enabled her to influence Dexter Avenue Baptist Church to hire Johns as pastor in October 1948.[1]: 6–7 On one occasion, he paid his fare on a bus in Montgomery, and was directed to the back in the custom of segregated seating. He refused to sit there and demanded, and got, his money back.[5] He sometimes ruffled feathers among his upper- and middle-class congregation by selling his farm produce outside the church building.[2]
Johns's niece,
In May 1953, Johns was forced to resign as pastor in Montgomery. He returned to his family farm, where he spent the rest of his life.[4]
Vernon Johns died of a heart attack in Washington, D.C., on June 11, 1965, at age 73.
Legacy
A television film, Road to Freedom: The Vernon Johns Story (1994), written by Leslie Lee and Kevin Arkadie, was based on an unpublished biography by Henry W. Powell of The Vernon Johns Society. It was directed by Kenneth Fink and stars James Earl Jones in the title role. Former NBA player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was the film's co-executive producer.[1]
David Anderson Elementary School in Petersburg, Virginia, was renamed as Vernon Johns Middle School. In 2009 it was adapted as the junior high school for the city school system.[citation needed]
See also
- Ralph Luker, editor of the Vernon Johns Papers
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0-671-68742-7.
- ^ a b "Johns, Vernon". The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute. May 9, 2017.
- ^ a b Turner, Maelinda. "Vernon Johns". Oberlin College and Conservatory. Retrieved Dec 21, 2020.
- ^ a b Luker, Ralph E. (2003). "Johns the Baptist". RalphLuker.com.
- ISBN 9780912469348.
- ^ "Barbara Johns". www.biography.com. Archived from the original on 3 February 2012. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
Further reading
- Luker, Ralph (1997). Historical Dictionary of the Civil Rights Movement. pp. 134–35.
External links
- "The Life and Times of the Prophet Vernon Johns: Father of the Civil Rights Movement". The Vernon Johns Society. April 7, 2003. Archived from the original on April 7, 2003.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - "Former Pastors: Vernon Johns (1947–1952)". Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church.
- The Vernon Johns Story at IMDb
- "Documenting Vernon Johns". History News Network. October 4, 2005. Archived from the original on August 23, 2012.