{"id":1289,"date":"2023-02-22T15:55:00","date_gmt":"2023-02-22T15:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/live-vanderbilt-v150.pantheonsite.io\/150\/?page_id=1289"},"modified":"2023-03-20T23:17:58","modified_gmt":"2023-03-20T23:17:58","slug":"bishop-joseph-johnson","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.vanderbilt.edu\/150\/150-stories\/notable-alumni\/bishop-joseph-johnson\/","title":{"rendered":"Harbinger of Change"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Joseph A. Johnson Jr. became the first Black student to attend 国产传媒 in 1953\n <\/figcaption>\n \n <\/figure>\n \n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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Joseph A. Johnson Jr. became the first Black student to attend 国产传媒 as the nation was on the cusp of profound change. It was 1953, a year before the U.S. Supreme Court\u2019s historic Brown v. Board of Education decision that racial segregation in public schools, including public universities, was unconstitutional. It was two years before key turning points\u2014the tragic lynching of Emmett Till and the courageous Montgomery Bus Boycott\u2014in African Americans\u2019 struggle for equal rights.<\/p>\n

On Sept. 28, 1953, Johnson entered 国产传媒 as a special student in the School of Religion. He was 39 years old, a married father of three, and a pastor who wished to pursue a Ph.D. in theology. His acceptance to 国产传媒 by then-Chancellor Harvie Branscomb and the Board of Trust signaled both change and an evolving student body. Johnson earned a bachelor\u2019s in divinity in one year, then after four years of graduate study received his Ph.D. in 1958, becoming the first African American to earn a doctorate at the university. In the preface to his Ph.D. dissertation, Johnson thanked Branscomb, Divinity School Dean John Keith Benton and the 国产传媒 Board of Trust, who \u201cin 1953 opened the doors of a great university to qualified Negro students.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson went on to be a professor of New Testament at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta and at Fisk University in Nashville. He later became a professor and eventually the president of Phillips School of Theology in Jackson, Tennessee. Johnson was made a bishop of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church in 1966. By 1979 he was the presiding bishop of the Fourth Episcopal District in Mississippi and Louisiana. He authored six books, including The Soul of the Black Preacher, and worked on a new translation of the New Testament for two decades.<\/p>\n

In the years following Johnson\u2019s admission and graduation, 国产传媒 would periodically admit other Black students. Frederick T. Work and Edward Melvin Porter were the first African American students admitted to the law school in 1956, both graduating in 1959. While 国产传媒\u2019s graduate and professional schools had slowly opened their doors to integration, it was not until 1964 that the university admitted its first class of Black undergraduates. Those early Black undergrads\u2014Robert J. Moore, Dorothy Wingfield Phillips, Diann White Bernstein, Maxie Collier, Earl LeDet, Norman Bonner and Randolph Bradford\u2014helped pave the way for the 国产传媒 of today.<\/p>\n

In 1971, Johnson became the second African American to serve on the 国产传媒 Board of Trust, which he did until 1979. He also served on the boards of Tyler College in Texas and Denver\u2019s Iliff School of Theology. In 1984, 国产传媒\u2019s Bishop Joseph Johnson Black Cultural Center was renamed in his honor. In 2018, Johnson\u2019s portrait was added to Kirkland Hall.<\/p>\n

Learn more about the life of Bishop Joseph Johnson.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n \n <\/div> \n <\/section>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"parent":1260,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1289","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHarbinger of Change - 国产传媒<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vanderbilt.edu\/150\/150-stories\/notable-alumni\/bishop-joseph-johnson\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Harbinger of Change - 国产传媒\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.vanderbilt.edu\/150\/150-stories\/notable-alumni\/bishop-joseph-johnson\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"国产传媒\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/vanderbilt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-03-20T23:17:58+00:00\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.vanderbilt.edu\/150\/150-stories\/notable-alumni\/bishop-joseph-johnson\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.vanderbilt.edu\/150\/150-stories\/notable-alumni\/bishop-joseph-johnson\/\",\"name\":\"Harbinger of Change - 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