In addition to her service in World War I, Kathryn Magnolia Johnson also pursued a lifelong career of allocating education opportunities for African Americans across the country. Joining the YMCA in 1916, she was assigned to serve 200,000 non-combatant African American troops in France. During this time, she took hold of the chance to give African American men educational opportunities that would otherwise have not been available to them in the United States.
After returning home, she dedicated the rest of her life to increasing the significance of literacy and social activism within African American communities, as well as providing resources for African American girls. Her mission for civil and educational rights began and thrived during her years of schooling. Since her birth in Darke County, Ohio on December 15, 1878, Johnson was a constant. powerhouse when it came to education. Graduating at the top of her high school class in New. Paris, Ohio in 1895. she went on to earn her bachelor’s degree and teaching certificate in 1902. Continuing her push for education, she worked at schools such as the State Normal School for. Negroes, Shorter College, and Sumner High School.
Furthermore, her teaching job in Kansas City led her to becoming a successful branch organizer for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, but she was let go in 1916 by the organization due to reasons that were never made clear. Shortly after, she began working for the Young Men’s Christian Association and was sent to monitor the treatment of African American soldiers in segregated U.S. Army units. She published her findings in a book
she wrote alongside Addie Waites Hunton titled, “Two Colored Women with the American Expeditionary Forces”. Their account is the most detailed description of the cultural climate in France toward African Americans.
Returning to Chicago in 1919, Johnson sold a great deal of works by black authors called The Two-Foot Shelf of Negro Literature that included 15 books published by the Carter G. Woodson’s Association. By the year 1928, Johnson was 50
years old, having traveled more than 9,000 miles and sold 15,000 books. Throughout her life, Kathryn was a champion for literacy, education, and social justice in colored communities throughout the country and the world. Her contribution to the NAACP was the reason why the organization gained so much popularity amongst African Americans at the time. Without her effort, the contribution might not have been able to kick off the way it did. Her book, “Two Colored Women with the American Expeditionary Forces”, also highlighted the reality of ill treatment towards
African Americans during the war. An unsung hero in the fight for civil rights, Johnson laid the foundation and groundwork for other civil rights activists to prosper. Her strive for the increase of literacy among African Americans is what led to the spread of reading proficiency among many African American communities.
Unlike her white male counterparts, Johnson was able to increase the popularity of the NAACP through her perspective of encouraging education among African Americans. The white men who first ran the NAACP were not fully devoted to the idea of creating educational opportunities for African Americans, hence their recruitment of African American workers such as Johnson. Although it may seem negative, the struggles we endure can unite us and allow us to reach a common goal. Her familiarity with African American struggles gave her an edge in communicating the significance of education to others.
