Home / Full timeline / Mordecai Wyatt Johnson, former president of historically Black Howard University, dies in Washington, D.C., at age eighty-six.
Mordecai Wyatt Johnson, former president of historically Black Howard University, dies in Washington, D.C., at age eighty-six.
1976 (Sep 10)
Mordecai Wyatt Johnson, former president of historically Black Howard University, died in Washington, D.C., at age eighty-six. Johnson was born on January 12, 1890, the son of a Baptist minister. He received undergraduate degrees from both Atlanta Baptist College (now Morehouse College) in 1911 and the University of Chicago in 1913, a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Rochester (New York) Theological Seminary in 1920, and a Master of Sacred Theology degree from Howard University in 1932. After serving nine years as pastor of the First Baptist Church of Charleston, West Virginia, Johnson assumed the presidency of Howard University in 1926 and held the position until 1960. Under his leadership Howard grew from a mostly Black school to an international university in its student body, faculty, and scope of its academic programs. During this period, the student population increased by 250 percent, seventeen new buildings were constructed, and the annual budget increased from $700,000 to $6 million. Johnson also gained a reputation as a champion of human rights and a spellbinding orator. After addressing the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in June 1959, the French newspaper Le Monde reported that the "650 delegates heard the most courageous exposé that one might be able to hear at such a meeting," and the New York Post remarked that “many were moved (by the address), some with annoyance, but at its end, the applause lasted for five minutes." In commenting on Johnson's death, the current president of Howard University, James Cheek, said that "love and dedication to Howard University will long be remembered by thousands of persons whose lives he touched throughout the world."
References:
- • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.