Vernon Johns
| Vernon Johns | |
|---|---|
| Born |
April 22, 1892 Darlington Heights, Virginia |
| Died | June 11, 1965 (aged 73) Washington, D.C. |
| Alma mater |
Oberlin Seminary University of Chicago |
| Movement | Civil Rights Movement |
| Spouse(s) | Altona Trent |
| Children | Six children |
Vernon Johns (April 22, 1892 – June 11, 1965) was an American minister at several black churches in the South and a pioneer in the civil rights movement. He is best known as the pastor 1947–52 of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery Alabama. He was succeeded by Martin Luther King Jr. Johns was widely known in the black community across the South for his profound scholarship in the classics, his intellect and his highly controversial and outspoken sermons on race relations, which were ahead of his time.
Johns was born in Darlington Heights, Prince Edward County, Virginia. Three of his grandparents were slaves. His paternal grandfather had been hanged for killing his master. Johns maternal grandfather was a Mr. Price, a white man. Price had a long-standing relationship with Johns maternal grandmother, and served prison time for killing a white man who tried to rape her. After her mother died, Johns' mother Sallie Price was raised by the white wife of her father, although the fact that he was actually her father was not generally acknowledged.
In 1915, Johns graduated from Virginia Theological Seminary and College. He then attended the Oberlin Seminary, where he studied with classmate Robert M. Hutchins. While at Oberlin, Johns was highly respected by both his classmates and the faculty and was chosen to give the annual student oration. After graduating from Oberlin in 1918, he attended the University of Chicago's graduate school of theology.
After studying at the University of Chicago, Johns moved between various congregations in Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. In 1926, he was the first African-American to have his work published in Best Sermons of the Year.
In 1927, Johns married Altona Trent. She was a pianist and music teacher who became a professor at what is now Alabama State University. In 1929–33 he was president of Lynchburg's Virginia Theological Seminary and College. He was unable to stabilize the school's finances and was forced to resign. He returned to his family farm for several years and in 1937 Johns was called again as the pastor of First Baptist Church in Charleston, West Virginia. In 1941, Johns returned to Lynchburg as pastor of Court Street Baptist Church, but was quickly forced to resign by the congregation and returned to the farm.
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