Civil rights leader from North Carolina shares stories of past racial conflicts and triumphs

 

A 77-year-old former civil rights leader, 40-year minister and former gubernatorial advisor on race relations urged Lipscomb’s students Thursday to “fight, fight, fight for justice.”

 

The Rev. Aaron Johnson, who began his fight by coordinating lunch counter sit-ins in Raleigh, N.C., in the 1960s, warned today’s students that “just because you have freedom today, doesn’t mean you will have it tomorrow.”

 

Johnson visited the Lipscomb campus on Wednesday and Thursday, March 10-11, speaking in selected classes and meeting with groups of faculty and students to share stories from his recently published memoir, “Man from Macedonia.”

 

From his very infancy, race issues shaped Johnson’s life. Deb Cleveland, co-author of the memoir, related a story Thursday about Doc Rogers, who was burned out of his home, murdered and his body mutilated and lynched by the Ku Klux Klan as the Johnson family watched from their porch. Aaron Johnson was only five months old, but he heard the story so often growing up, it came to define his behavior and attitudes.

 

The attitude his mother encouraged was one of Christian love and forgiveness, fueling Johnson’s loving and respectful approach to race relations which he practiced throughout his life. He told his audience about standing blindfolded before a group of Klansmen, urging them to participate in a reconciliation council designed to unify the community during the days of integration. Johnson’s bravery and respect won them over, and eventually a North Carolina Klansmen was able to call Johnson his friend.

 

“In those days, it would have been illegal for you and I to sit together in a classroom like this,” Johnson told the students. “What we worked for in terms of freedom is this moment right here.”

 

Throughout his career, Johnson worked with three North Carolina governors and former President Ronald Reagan, advising on race relations. Beginning in 1985, he served  as North Carolina’s first African American Secretary of Corrections under the James Martin administration , launching programs to improve inmates’ health and rehabilitation. He also helped launch a nationwide prison evangelism effort.

 

On Wednesday, March 10, Johnson spoke to the Lipscomb students at the Tennessee Prison for Women, enrolled in the Lipscomb Initiative for Education (LIFE) program.

 

Johnson urged his audience on Thursday to recognize the hard work of those who came before and the need to continue working hard to make America the best it can be.