Early life and education
Born in 1900 in Hylas in Goochland County's Dover District to the former Lelia Sattherwhite and her long-lived farmer husband Charles Evander Johnson (1849–1948). While his mother's family had long lived in Goochland County, his father moved there from nearby Hanover County. Johnson was the youngest of at least nine children burn during his parents' long marriage. After receiving a public education locally, Johnson traveled to Richmond and earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Richmond, then a master's degree from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, as well as took courses from the College of William and Mary and New York University. He married Lucy late in life and had no children. Census forms through 1950 show Johnson lived at Hylas with his slightly older brother Forrest and his family.Career
Johnson remained a farmer working for his father during World War I, although he registered for the draft. He became a career educator and vocational rehabilitation specialist during a time when Virginia public schools were segregated. In 1940, at the beginning of World War II, Johnson lived with his elderly father as well as older brother Forrest Johnson and his wife and son (this man's nephew). When registering for the draft in 1940 (during World War II), this Johnson listed his employer as the Virginia Department of Education, although the census form specified that his job as involving vocational rehabilitation. During the 1930s, federal courts were beginning to realize that Black teachers and other professionals were paid less and taught at inferior schools. By 1950, after leaving the legislature as described below, Johnson described his job as public relations for the Medical Society of Virginia, and his obituary the next year listed his title as executive secretary/treasurer. Goochland County voters, together with those from nearby Louisa and Fluvanna Counties, first elected Johnson to the Virginia House of Delegates in 1942, and re-elected him to that part-time position until 1947, when he was succeeded by fellow Democrat Harold H. Purcell, a lawyer recently returned from wartime service and who would serve in both houses of the Virginia General Assembly before becoming a judge.Cynthia Miller Leonard, The Virginia General Assembly 1619-1978 (Richmond, Virginia State Library) pp. 674, 679, 686Death and legacy
Johnson died at a Richmond hospital in 1951, at the beginning of Virginia's Massive Resistance crisis, survived by his widow, five sisters and three brothers, and was buried at Berea Baptist Church in Hanover County.References
External links
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Henry S. 1900 births 1951 deaths Democratic Party members of the Virginia House of Delegates 20th-century American legislators People from Hanover, Virginia 20th-century Virginia politicians