The unsuccessful legal battle of Josephus Johnson to have his children educated in white Wilson County schools is chronicled here. As noted in earlier posts, despite admitted remote African ancestry and the verdict of the North Carolina Supreme Court, the Johnsons continued to live as white people in their community and beyond.
Here are Minnie Etta Taylor Johnson, Josephus S. Johnson, and their oldest children Carl, Arthur and Fannie.
And three of the Johnsons’ sons as adults:
Carl Johnson (1903-1978).
Luther Johnson (1908-1985).
James Clinton Johnson (1911-1962).
Photos courtesy of Ancestry.com users Mary Barber, Joe Whisnant, and welderpbr.
Those are my great grandparents. Why do you think they are black?
In addition to the information contained in the text of this post, please click the link, which will take you to the post about Josephus Johnson’s unsuccessful attempt to have his children enrolled in white schools.
NM. The link was not working at first. I promise that this is the first time our generation is learning about this and we are wondering why our family has never spoke about it. This certainly explains a lot.
I’m not surprised that this was not shared. Families who “passed” generally wanted to relieve their descendants of the burden of the impact of racism, and “ignorance is bliss” was a common ethos. I’ve heard from others who had the same surprise at finding their ancestors in this blog. Interestingly, they also report that this evidence makes some things make sense. (It’s also an ongoing phenomenon. I have cousins I “met” via DNA testing who had no idea the secrets their parents, who made the decision to suppress their African ancestry, were holding.)