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William Johnson was an exceptional African-American man who made an indelible mark in history and whose legacy continues to live on today. He was a trailblazer in many aspects of his life, and his achievements served as a source of inspiration for many who came after him. In this article, we will delve into his life story, his accomplishments, and the impact he has had on the world.
Early Life
William Johnson was born on March 27, 1809, in Natchez, Mississippi, into a family of slaves. His mother, Amy, was an enslaved house servant for a prominent Natchez family, while his father, Baron, was a slave on a nearby plantation. Despite his enslaved status, William grew up with access to a quality education, as his mother was literate and had taught him to read and write.
Johnson’s owner, Joseph Davis, the elder brother of future Confederate President Jefferson Davis, recognized his intelligence and provided him with additional education, including French and Spanish lessons. As Johnson grew older, he worked as a carpenter, blacksmith, and barber, which were trades he picked up under the guidance of other enslaved men.
Rather than languish under slavery, Johnson, who had brown skin, knew he had to be proactive to overhaul the lives of black slaves. He worked hard and put his resources into investments, managing to buy his freedom and that of his wife and children, making him one of the few emancipated slaves of his time. He lived through the abolition of slavery, the Civil War, and Reconstruction, becoming one of America’s most prominent postwar black leaders.
Merchant
In 1830, Johnson opened a successful barbering business serving both white and black clientele. He grew increasingly prosperous, becoming one of the wealthiest men of color in the South. He became a respected tradesman who took advantage of the plethora of trade routes flowing through Natchez due to its location on the Mississippi River. He used his business acumen and trade expertise to buy land, start a cotton gin, and eventually transition into the merchant business.
In the 1840s, with a steady income from his barbershop, he became a seller of goods and invested in steamboats, river flatboats, and cotton bales, all of which he used to transport goods to and from Louisiana, Missouri, and Illinois. He formed a partnership in his early business ventures with Joshua Green, the free-born black son of a wealthy businessman. Together, they owned the steamboat Magnolia, which he used to transport goods to and from Gulf ports and the states bordering the Mississippi River.
A shrewd businessman, he maneuvered through the turbulent political, social and racial climate of the day to become one of the wealthiest men in the Mississippi Valley. He and his business partner Joshua Green amassed enough wealth to start their bank, the first black-owned commercial bank in the country, Union Bank of Natchez. Johnson provided financing for many white colleagues who later repaid their debts with cotton bales that he would later ship to New Orleans.
Johnson also venturing into partnership with an ambitious young man in Ohio named E.J. Farnsworth. Farnsworth suggested that instead of focusing merely on buying goods in Natchez and selling them in region cities such as New Orleans, he suggested that he and Johnson grow more crops to sell, as well as purchasing other goods to sell.
In 1843, Johnson was the sole black member of the Mississippi Constitutional Convention. He joined the Whig Party, which opposed increasing white immigrant domination and supported liberalizing the economy and society. Johnson was a speaker at the convention and called for disenfranchised free-born and manumitted African Americans to have the right to vote.
Politics and Culture
Johnson entered a vital role in his community advocating for civil rights issues through his political connections and influence. Johnson held the role of “Special Envoy” to the Choctaw and Chickasaw people who inhabited the area, representing the Natchez community to the indigenous people. He was also appointed the United States Barber to the China Mission by the ambassador Caleb Cushing in 1844, a nod to his respectability, tact, and his entrepreneurial expertise.
He was named to the city’s Board of Aldermen and used his position to achieve community progress, including mandating fair treatment of black people in public accommodations. Johnson fought hard to overturn unjust laws and policies for African Americans, and often found himself at odds with white supremacists who sought to deny African Americans the fruits of their labor. William Johnson was a principled man and a unifier who used his influence to lobby for the right cause of progress.
Legal Battle
Sadly, Johnson’s life was cut short by an unhinged, mean-spirited assassin who had a grudge against him. On May 16, 1851, Johnson was shot to death with a shotgun while sitting in his barbershop. The killer was a man called Baylor Winn, a fellow white customer of Johnson’s at a local tavern where an argument had started.
The 1852 trial against Winn was sensational, with racial tensions quite high as the city’s white people feared Black people’s potential uprising. He was the most prosperous black businessman and was revered and wealthy, having just built a mansion that reflected.
Founding Fathers: William Johnson
William Samuel Johnson was born on October 7, 1727, in Stratford, Connecticut. He was already a well-known figure before the American Revolution. He was the son of Samuel Johnson, who was a prominent Anglican clergyman and later the president of King’s College.
William Johnson was first homeschooled. Afterward, he attended and graduated in 1744 from Yale College. He continued on and received a master’s degree there in 1747. While his father wanted him to enter the clergy, William Johnson decided to pursue a legal career. He had taught himself the law and after he was admitted to the Connecticut bar, he started a practice. Here he developed an important clientele quickly which included many from Connecticut as well as New York City and established many business connections that extended beyond Connecticut. In 1749, he married Anne Beach, who was the daughter of a local businessman. Together the two of them had six sons and five daughters, but many of their children died before seeing adulthood.
In the 1750s, William Johnson began his public career as a militia officer in Connecticut. In both 1761 and 1765, Johnson served in the lower house of the assembly. In the 1766 and 1771 election, he was also an elected member of the upper house. During the American Revolution, William Johnson was disturbed by conflicting loyalties. While he shared many of the same grievances against the British government as his fellow colonists, he still kept strong transatlantic ties and had trouble choosing sides.
William Johnson finally decided to fight for peace between the colonies and Great Britain and to go against the extremist Whig faction. Between 1772 and 1774, Johnson acted as judge of the Connecticut supreme court.
Johnson was elected to the First Continental Congress in 1774, but he chose not to participate. When hostilities broke out, Johnson only participated in peacemaking activities. In April 1775, he was sent by Connecticut to speak to British General Thomas Gage about stopping the bloodshed. Unfortunately, he failed and soon fell out of favor with the radical patriot elements who had gained power in the Connecticut government. William Johnson was arrested in 1779 for communicating with the enemy, but he cleared himself of these charges and was released.
After the passions of war had settled down, William Johnson went back to his political career. As a member of the Continental Congress from 1785 to 1787, Johnson was one of the most significant and admired delegates. Because of his influence in the Constitutional Convention, William Johnson did not miss any sessions after arriving at the convention on June 2. During the ratification, he worked towards ratification of the Constitution in Connecticut.
William Johnson took part in the new government as a Senator where he was involved in passing the Judiciary Act of 1789. In 1791, William Johnson resigned because he wanted to devote his time to his presidency of Columbia College from 1787 to 1800 in New York City. In 1800, he retired from the college. His wife had died around this time and a few years later, he got remarried to Mary Brewster Beach, a relative of his first wife. They lived at his birthplace, Stratford, Connecticut. He passed away there on November 14, 1819 at 92 years old and was buried at Old Episcopal Cemetery.
