Allen Johnson

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.

Early life and 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.

Minister In 1963, Johnson, like his father once had, became the head pastor at Pratt Memorial United Methodist Church in Jackson, Mississippi.

Southern Christian Leadership Conference In 1966, Johnson hosted the Tenth Annual Southern Christian Leadership Conference at the Masonic Temple in Jackson. The theme of the conference was human rights - the continuing struggle. 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."

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. 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. The bombing was part of several months of violence by the Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi. 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. At one time, Johnson was the Mississippi NAACP assistant field secretary. In the spring of 1967, Johnson coordinated eight MVREL seminars to train people in voter registration. The leaders whispered because any public expression of black support would have damaged a white candidate in the eyes of many white voters. Johnson's activism inspired his granddaughter, Vida Johnson, to go to law school.