Black History: A tribute to my parents

During the civil rights movement, there were a lot of media attention surrounding the activities of our national leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and others.

However, Franklin County had its own brand of African-American leadership and a movement that received local and regional attention. Both my father and mother spent the majority of their life in service to the Franklin County African-American community. My father was originally from River Junction, Florida in Gadsden County and my mother was from Bascom, Florida in Jackson County.

My father the late Abe Johnson, Sr., was a Staff Sergeant in the U.S. Army where he was assigned to Rome, Italy during the European Theater of World War II. While traveling in a jeep on routine patrol, the jeep hit a landmine, exploded, and killed everyone aboard except for my father. He survived the blast, but lost the use of both his eyes. Because of his service-connected injuries, the Military awarded him the Purple Heart. For three consecutive years of honorable and faithful service, they awarded him the Good Conduct Ribbon. For heroism in the face of enemy fire, they gave him the Bronze Battle Star and for his service in the European Theater, they gave him the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Metal and honorably discharged him from the service.

I never witnessed my father let his injuries hold him back. In the early 1960’s, he opened and operated a local eatery called the Green Lantern Café and during the local civil rights movement, he served as the first and only President of the Franklin County Voters League where he organized a massive voter’s registration drive.

My mother the late Azalee Johnson worked briefly outside of the home before she and my father went into the restaurant business together. She was one of the 1969 founders and President of the Franklin County Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

In 1973, after the expulsion of an African-American student from Carrabelle High School, as president of the local NAACP, my mother organized a boycott of the Franklin County schools, which involved over 350 Black students. The boycott culminated with a non-violent march from Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church down U.S. 98 to the steps of the Franklin County Courthouse. Where my mother called for the firing of both Principals from Carrabelle High School and from Chapman Elementary and demanded that the school board abandon its policy of expelling blacks students.

The top photo is at a 1975, NAACP banquet where both my father and mother received certificates of appreciation from then Apalachicola Mayor Jimmie Nichols for their work in the community. The other photo is of the students on the steps of the Franklin County Courthouse after the historic 1973 school boycott march.