Bishop Joseph Johnson History Project

 by Cynthia Johnson-Oliver

In Memoriam: Patricia Johnson-Powell (1948-2021)

The Bishop Joseph Johnson History Project is deeply saddened to announce the passing of Patricia Ann Johnson-Powell. She went home to be with the Lord on March 9, 2021 in Lexington, Kentucky. Her loving husband, Larry Powell, was by her side.

Pat was born on January 24, 1948 in Jackson, Tennessee to Bishop Joseph A. Johnson, Jr. and Mrs. Grace Johnson. She received early Christian education on the cradle roll at St. Paul CME Church in Jackson and at Capers Memorial CME Church in Nashville, Tennessee.

Pat attended Allen High School in Ashville, North Carolina. She then attended Fisk University, receiving her Bachelor of Arts degree with a dual major in English and Philosophy. She went on to receive her Master of Arts degree at Clark Atlanta University, writing her thesis on “The Jazz and Blues Poetry of Langston Hughes.” She also furthered her education at Southern Illinois University.

 

After being introduced by a mutual friend, Patricia married Larry Powell on September 29, 1984. They were married for over 36 years.

Pat was an active member of Wesley United Methodist Church, where she served as chair of the Staff Parish Relations Committee and volunteered for various ministries and programs. She was also an active member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. She was an active member of the Johnson Family planning committee, and she and Larry served as hosts for the 2018 reunion. She was an advisor and supporter of the Bishop Joseph Johnson History Project, a nonprofit preserving the legacy of her father. Pat believed in performing her civic duties and promoting social justice since her early days participating in marches with her father in Louisiana to recently encouraging people to vote in recent elections.

Pat had an accomplished career as a human resources executive. Most recently, she served as Director of Human Resources for HealthFirst Bluegrass from 2015 until her retirement in 2020. Prior to that, she served as Director of Human Resources for Lifeline Homecare, Associate Director of Human Resources at Kentucky Community and Technical College System, and Human Resources Consultant for DBA Equity Interventions. She received the high distinction in her industry of being a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR), and she strove for excellence and equity in the workplace.

Pat will be remembered for being a loving, encouraging, and giving person, always taking an interest in the lives of others. She believed in striving for excellence in all things, whether at work, at church, or at home.  She will be remembered for being kind and caring to her friends and loved ones.

She is preceded in death by her parents, Bishop and Mrs. Joseph A. Johnson, Jr, and her brothers, Dr. Joseph A. Johnson III and Rev. Dr. Charles DeWitt Johnson.

She is survived by her husband, Larry Powell; bonus sons, Marcus Powell and Maurice Powell; grandchildren, Marcus Powell, Jr., Mariana Powell, Marius Powell, Marcell Powell; numerous nieces and nephews, and a host of cousins and friends.

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Vanderbilt University commissioned a portrait of Bishop Joseph A. Johnson, Jr. by world renowned portrait artist Simmie Knox. In October 2019, Patricia Johnson-Powell and other family members were present to share remarks at the dedication of the portrait. Watch video to hear Pat in her own words. Watch to the end to see the portrait.

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 by Cynthia Johnson-Oliver

Vanderbilt Unveils New Bishop Johnson Portrait


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We are excited to announce that Vanderbilt University unveiled a new portrait of Bishop Joseph A. Johnson, Jr., along with the portraits of other Vanderbilt trailblazers during Homecoming weekend on October 13, 2018. Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos unveiled four portraits as part of a new “Vanderbilt Trailblazers” portrait series to honor members of the Vanderbilt community who broke barriers at the university and in society at large. The other portraits feature Perry Wallace, the Rev. Walter R. Murray Jr., and the Rev. James Lawson.

Commissioned by Chancellor Zeppos, the portraits were painted by world-renowned artist Simmie Knox, who has painted portraits of Oprah Winfrey, Muhammad Ali, Justice Thurgood Marshall and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and the official White House portraits of President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton. 

The portraits are part of Vanderbilt’s campus-wide effort of “creating welcoming, inclusive and accessible spaces that recognize and celebrate the diversity of the Vanderbilt community.” The portraits are currently on display in the parlor of the Mary McClure Taylor Lobby in Kirkland Hall, Vanderbilt University’s administration building. They will remain in Kirkland Hall until they are dedicated in their permanent locations across campus next year. 

Bishop Joseph A. Johnson, Jr. was the first African American to graduate from Vanderbilt University, (Bachelor of Divinity, 1954), the first to receive a PhD (1958), and the first to serve as a full member of the Vanderbilt Board of Trust. The Bishop Joseph Johnson Black Cultural Center honors his legacy on the Vanderbilt campus. He was also the 34th Bishop of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, noted scholar and theologian, and the author of The Soul of the Black Preacher and Proclamation Theology. The Bishop Joseph Johnson History Project is telling his life story through a biography and documentary film currently in progress.

Also featured, Perry Wallace enrolled at Vanderbilt in 1966, was an engineering student and the first African American varsity basketball player in the Southeastern Conference. Rev. Walter R. Murray Jr. was founder of the Association of Vanderbilt Black Alumni and was a was a founder of the Afro-American Student Association. He was elected a young alumni trustee in 1970, becoming the first African American to serve on the Vanderbilt University Board of Trust. Rev. James Lawson’s civil rights activism in Nashville led to his expulsion from Vanderbilt in 1960. Eventually, Lawson and Vanderbilt reconciled and, in 1996, he received the Divinity School’s first Distinguished Alumni/ae Award. Lawson returned to Vanderbilt to teach as a Distinguished University Professor in 2006.

 

Vanderbilt University Trailblazers Portrait Unveiling - Bishop Joseph A. Johnson, Jr. - at Kirkland Hall.(Vanderbilt University/Joe Howell)
Vanderbilt University Trailblazers Portrait Unveiling - Rev. James Lawson - at Kirkland Hall.(Vanderbilt University/Joe Howell)
Vanderbilt University Trailblazers Portrait Unveiling - Perry Wallace - at Kirkland Hall.(Vanderbilt University/Joe Howell)
Vanderbilt University Trailblazers Portrait Unveiling - Walter Murray - at Kirkland Hall.(Vanderbilt University/Joe Howell)
Vanderbilt University Trailblazers Portrait Unveiling at Kirkland Hall.

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The Bishop Joseph Johnson History Project is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization dedicated to preserving the legacy of Bishop Joseph A. Johnson, Jr. and meeting the continuing demand for his books, sermons, and papers that persists 40 years after his death. Biography and documentary film in progress.

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 by Cynthia Johnson-Oliver

Chance Encounter with Family of Bishop C.H. Phillips

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As we Recap 2016, I am reminded of a moment of what can only be described as divine synchronicity while we were on the road filming the documentary about my grandfather, Bishop Joseph A. Johnson, Jr.

We were in the Atlanta area filming at a family gathering when we decided to take a detour to visit the historic Phillips School of Theology. As one of six seminaries located at the Interdenominational Theological Center (ITC) in Atlanta, Phillips School of Theology trains women and men for ministry in the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. The seminary was originally founded in 1944 in Jackson, Tennessee, on the campus of Lane College, by Bishop C.H. Phillips and Bishop J. Arthur Hamlett. The then Rev. Dr. Joseph A. Johnson, Jr., served as the first dean of the seminary before it moved to Atlanta in 1959. In fact, it was while Dr. Johnson was president of Phillips School of Theology that he successfully applied to become the first African American student to attend Vanderbilt University. Although he already had a doctorate in theology, Dr. Johnson’s stated goal was to attend Vanderbilt to obtain a PhD in New Testament studies in order to teach New Testament at Phillips School of Theology and thus improve the seminary’s chances of receiving accreditation.

This past July, we arrived at Phillips at mid-day, at the height of the sweltering. mid-summer Georgia heat. The sun punished us mercilessly as I gathered my family and our camera man into the building. The school was actually closed due to summer intersession, but the dean had been kind enough to arrange for the building to be opened for our project. Upon entering, we went directly to the room in which my grandfather’s photo hangs on the wall, the first of several deans to lead the seminary. It was then that another family entered the building – a woman accompanied by two men. I observed the woman’s excitement as she immediately pointed to a portrait on the wall and turned to pose next to the portrait while her family took photos. 

Carl Jung coined the term synchronicity to describe “a meaningful coincidence of two or more events where something other than the probability of chance is involved.” Such a meaningful coincidence can provide an “immediate religious experience” as participants are suddenly opened to a connection between the objective and subjective worlds. Jungian synchronicity has been explored by many, and is generally understood as an affirmation that one is on the right path and that the path is being blessed with guidance from that which is beyond the physical, visible world.

Synchronicity might best describe what happened when moments after the building was opened, I, a descendant of Bishop Johnson, came face to face with a descendant of Bishop Phillips. Marie Grandberry, the great, great granddaughter of Bishop Phillips, resides in Milwaukee and had just arrived in Atlanta on a trip to visit family. She arrived on the same weekend that I was visiting from Arlington, Virginia. She and her family decided to stop by to see the seminary named after their ancestor. The only reason they were able to enter the building was because we had made prior arrangements to have it opened.

Upon meeting Mrs. Grandberry, we learned of our shared connection and remarked at the improbability of our encounter. I explained my biography and documentary projects, and then we together pondered that there must have been a strong connection between Bishop Phillips and Dr. Johnson as they worked to start a seminary for African Americans.

Phillips School of Theology was founded ten years before the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education outlawed segregation in public education and about 20 years before widespread desegregation in higher education. At the time, only one accredited seminary was available to African Americans, namely the United Methodist’s Gammon School of Theology. Opening the door of advanced theological training to African American clergy would have a profound impact on African American churches and communities as they sought to improve conditions, open doors, and fight for racial equality. Bishop Phillips and Dr. Johnson shared this vision and set out to make it a reality on the campus of Lane College.

I could not pass up the opportunity to ask Mrs. Grandberry if she would be willing to be interviewed on camera, although neither of us were dressed or prepared for a formal interview. She graciously agreed, and in our interview, she spoke beautifully of our ancestors efforts at opening the doors of theological education. She and others connected to Phillips School of Theology and ITC will be featured in the documentary about Bishop Johnson.

In addition to the seminary, Bishop Phillips participated in founding numerous churches throughout the CME connection, including Phillips Chapel in Nashville (pastored by a young Rev. Johnson), Phillips Metropolitan in Hartford, and Phillips Metropolitan in Dayton. Bishop Johnson went on to be the first African American to graduate from Vanderbilt University, a New Testament professor at ITC, and a Bishop in the CME Church. According to ITC Professor Dr. Riggins Earl, as a New Testament professor, Bishop Johnson impacted a generation of African American ministers who went on to be leaders in the Civil Rights Movement, teaching them to interpret the New Testament for social justice. Bishop Johnson’s books, The Soul of the Black Preacher and Proclamation Theology continue to be recommended reading for students of black theology and black church history.

It all started with a shared vision, illuminated by a chance encounter, at Phillips School of Theology.

 

The Bishop Joseph Johnson History Project wishes to acknowledge funding from the Lily Endowment via the Louisville Institute and from Vanderbilt University. Filming for the documentary will next occur at the Pastor’s Conference of Phillips School of Theology in January, 2017. For more information, contact info@bishopjosephjohnson.org.

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 by Cynthia Johnson-Oliver

Bishop Johnson Documentary Film In Progress

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Rev. Cynthia Johnson-Oliver interviews about Bishop Joseph Johnson History Project

We are pleased to announce that filming is underway for a documentary about the life and legacy of Bishop Joseph Andrew Johnson Jr. Thanks to a grant from the Lily Endowment (via the Louisville Institute) and a matching grant from Vanderbilt University, Bishop Johnson’s life story will now be told in print and on the small screen.

Interview with Anthony Johnson

Rev. Johnson-Oliver interviews Anthony Johnson

The biography and documentary projects are led by Rev. Cynthia Johnson-Oliver, granddaughter of Bishop Johnson and founder of the Bishop Joseph Johnson History Project, which seeks to preserve the oral history, sermons, books, papers, and legacy of Bishop Johnson, and share his inspiring life story with a new generation. She is joined by producer Robin Mazyck and cameraman Denis Pacuraru as partners in the documentary project. Filming thus far has included interviews of Bishop Johnson’s descendants and other family members along with an interview of Bishop Othal Hawthone Lakey, author of The History of the CME Church. In late August, filming will take place at Vanderbilt University and at Capers Memorial CME Church, where Johnson served as pastor while attending Vanderbilt. Future filming will take place in northern Louisiana; Denver, Colorado; Memphis and Jackson, Tennessee; and at Phillips School of Theology at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, Georgia.

Bishop Johnson was the first African American to graduate from Vanderbilt University, receiving the Bachelor of Divinity in 1954.  He was also the first African American to receive a PhD from the university (1958), and the first to serve as a full member of the university’s Board of Trusts (1971). Johnson was also a bishop in the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, a civil rights advocate, and a pioneer in the field of black liberation theology. He is the author of The Soul of the Black Preacher, Proclamation Theology, and other works. In 1984, five years after his death, the Bishop Joseph Johnson Black Cultural Center was dedicated on Vanderbilt’s campus. Most recently, Bishop Johnson was posthumously named a distinguished alumnus of Vanderbilt Divinity School in 2014, and earlier this year, the Joseph A. Johnson, Jr., Distinguished Leadership Professor Award  was created in his honor.

For more information and ongoing updates from the Bishop Joseph Johnson History Project, follow the history project blog and Facebook page. Contact Rev. Johnson-Oliver to share your memories about Bishop Johnson or to arrange an interview.

Dr. Joseph A. Johnson III, Rev. Cynthia Johnson-Oliver, and Rev. Rose Johnson-Thompson
Rev. Cynthia Johnson-Oliver and Dr. Joseph A. Johnson III
Cameraman Denis Pacuraru and Rev. Cynthia Johnson-Oliver
Rev. Cynthia Johnson-Oliver interviews Anthony Johnson

The Bishop Joseph Johnson History Project is grateful for funding from the Lily Endowment (via the Louisville Institute), Vanderbilt University, and Friends of the Bishop Joseph Johnson History Project.

 

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 by Cynthia Johnson-Oliver

Bishop Johnson Biography Receives Grant Support

15529594532_8801d71f2a_bRev. Cynthia Johnson-Oliver, President of the Bishop Joseph Johnson History Project, has been awarded a Pastoral Study Project grant from the Louisville Institute to fund her book project, The Soul of the Bishop: The Life and Legacy of Bishop Joseph A. Johnson, Jr. (1914-1979).

The book-length biography will chronicle the life of her grandfather, Bishop Johnson, the first African American to graduate from Vanderbilt University, receiving the Bachelor of Divinity in 1954.  Johnson went on to become the first African American to receive a PhD from the university, and the first to serve as a full member of the university’s Board of Trusts. Johnson also became a Bishop in the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1984, five years after his death, the Bishop Joseph Johnson Black Cultural Center was dedicated on Vanderbilt’s campus.

Cynthia accepting awardMost recently, in October 2014, Vanderbilt Divinity School posthumously awarded Bishop Johnson the Distinguished Alumni Award. Rev. Johnson-Oliver accepted the award on his behalf and organized a panel discussion to reflect on his life and legacy.

Rev. Johnson-Oliver, a graduate of Harvard Divinity School and Yale Law School, is an ordained elder in the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church currently serving “on loan” as an Associate Pastor at Annandale United Methodist Church. She will utilize the Pastoral Study Project grant to fund research and research-related travel as she investigates Johnson’s life and times. She founded the Bishop Joseph Johnson History Project to connect with audiences and to preserve the history and papers of Bishop Johnson.

Through its Pastoral Study Project program (PSP), the Louisville Institute enables pastoral leaders to bracket daily work routines in order to pursue a pressing and significant question for the life of faith. Grants of up to $15,000 support independent or collaborative study projects – projects that privilege pastoral perspectives and rhythms and honor grassroots research conducted by skilled clergy. PSP grantees use a variety of platforms to share what they learn with a wider audience, extending their leadership in ways that benefit the broader church and culture in North America.

Louisville Institute is funded by the Religion Division of Lilly Endowment and based at Louisville Presbyterian Seminary (Louisville, Kentucky). The Institute’s fundamental mission is to enrich the religious life of North American Christians and to encourage the revitalization of their institutions, by bringing together those who lead religious institutions with those who study them, so that the work of each might inform and strengthen the other.

For more information about the Biography Project, click here.

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