Dates

• Existence: December 19, 1916 - February 17, 2004

Biography

Herman A. Johnson (December 19, 1916 – February 17, 2004) was a Kansas City business owner, legislator, and civil rights leader. He was born in Schenectady, NY and during World War II served in the United States Air Force with the Tuskegee Airmen. Johnson obtained a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and a degree in Personnel and Hospital Administration from the University of Chicago. He lived and worked in Washington D.C. prior to moving to Kansas City in 1959. In 1960 he married Dorothy Hodge Davis and they had a daughter, Tara Kaye Townsend Johnson Curtis. In Kansas City, Johnson was the owner of the Herman Johnson Company, a real estate firm, and also owned and managed the Lincoln Cemetery, one of the few cemeteries in the city that served Black families. Johnson served as the President of the Kansas City Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and it was in this capacity that he was among the first civil leaders to march with protesters during the uprisings of 1968 following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In 1968 Johnson was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives, where he served until 1972. In addition, Johnson advocated for and worked with numerous other organizations including Freedom, Inc., the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), and the Missouri Association of Social Welfare (MASW). In 2009 a dormitory on the UMKC campus was named after him and his wife, Dorothy H. Johnson. Herman Johnson received numerous honors and awards for his service to these organizations and the greater Kansas City community, including those from the United States Air Force Tuskegee Airmen, Mayor Kay Barnes, the NAACP, the Missouri Black Leadership Association, and has been named by the Kansas City Globe as one of the city’s 100 Most Influential People.

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