Dr. Whittington B. Johnson

A Glimpse

Dr. Whittington B. Johnson | BTW Classs of 1949

First tenured black faculty at the University of Miami

at My Professional Career

Whittington B. Johnson, Ph.D., Professor and Senior Warden Emeritus, was born in Miami, Florida on April 29, 1931 to Joseph B. Johnson of Hatchet Bay, Eleuthera and Lucille Johnson, of Matthew Town, inagua, Bahamas Islands. He received his early education in Miami, attending Saint Agnes’ Kindergarten, Dunbar Elementary School, and Booker T. Washington High School, graduating from the latter in 1949. After high school graduation, Dr. Johnson enrolled at West Virginia State College (now West Virginia State University) where he majored in history, graduated in 1953 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree, and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Army. Upon completing his tour of duty in May, 1955 at the rank of a first lieutenant, he was honorably discharged from the United States Army at Fort Campbell, Kentucky where he was stationed with the 11th Airborne Division (now the 101 Airborne Division). He then continued his education at Bethune Cookman College (now Bethune Cookman University) to become certified to teach social studies before attending graduate school at Indiana University and earning a Master of Arts For Teachers Degree (MAT) in 1957. A decade later (1967), he enrolled in the doctoral program at the University of Georgia and was awarded the Ph.D. in history (1970).

Dr. Johnson’s career in higher education includes stints at Edward Waters College (1957-62), Savannah State College (now Savannah State University) from 1962-67, and the University of Miami (197O-2OO2). He retired from the latter on May 15, 2002 after completing forty-five years of teaching and contributing to the corpus of knowledge by writing history works based upon primary research.

The first African American hired in a tenure-earning position by the University of Miami, Dr. Johnson taught American and African American history courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels. He was Director of the African American Studies Center and chaired the History Department several times during his thirty-two years there.

Dr. Johnson is the husband of Imogene Johnson (longtime guidance counselor at Miami Palmetto Senior High School before retiring in June 2004); the father of Toni L. Thomas (Nigel), Traci-Liegh Curran (Shannon), and Todd L. Johnson, and the grandfather of Jasmine M. and Cameron Johnson, Noah, Sydney, and Sophia Thomas,

By Dr. Whittington B. Johnson