Hall Johnson

Francis Hall Johnson (March 12, 1888 – April 30, 1970) was an American composer and arranger of African-American spiritual music. He is one of a group—including Harry T. Burleigh, R. Nathaniel Dett, and Eva Jessye—who had great success performing African-American spirituals.

Early years Francis Hall Johnson was born on March 12, 1888, the fourth of six children of Alice Virginia Sansom and William Decker Johnson (1842–1909), who was a pastor in the AME Church and a president of Allen University.

Johnson received an extensive education. He attended the private, all-black Knox Institute in Athens, Georgia, and earned a degree from Allen University in Columbia, South Carolina. He also attended Atlanta University, the Juilliard School, Hahn School of Music, and the University of Pennsylvania. and he taught himself to play the violin after hearing a violin recital given by Joseph Henry Douglass, grandson of Frederick Douglass.

Career Johnson's debut as a professional violinist occurred in a concert in New York in 1910.

Johnson was fluent in both German and French. Among the singers he coached were Marian Anderson, Charles Holland, Robert McFerrin and Shirley Verrett. His arrangements of the spirituals have been recorded by some of the world's finest artists.

Death Johnson, aged 82, died of burns received during a fire at his New York apartment on April 30, 1970.

Recognition In 1975, Johnson was posthumously honored for his work in films by being elected to the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame.

A 1931 bust of Johnson by Minna Harkavy was shown at an exhibition at the Moscow Museum of Western Art and was bought by the Pushkin Museum in Moscow.

In 1934, the Philadelphia Academy of Music recognized Johnson with an honorary doctorate.

In September 2020, the Athens Cultural Affairs Commission included Hall Johnson in the first ten inductees of the Athens Music Walk of Fame installed downtown, alongside other, more contemporary honorees such as R.E.M., The B-52's, and Vic Chesnutt. A plaque mounted in the sidewalk and mobile-app beacon honor Johnson's career.

Filmography