Violet A. Johnson (1870 – November 21, 1939) was an American civic leader and

suffragist Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...

.Adams, Betty Livingston
"Biographical Sketch of Violet A. Johnson, 1870-1939"
Alexander Street, Biographical Database of NAWSA Suffragists, 1890-1920.

Early life

Johnson was born in

Wilmington, North Carolina Wilmington is a port city in and the county seat of New Hanover County in coastal southeastern North Carolina, United States. With a population of 115,451 at the 2020 census, it is the eighth most populous city in the state. Wilmington is the ...

. She became a domestic servant for the John Eggers family in the early 1890s, first in New York, then in

Summit, New Jersey Summit is a city in Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The city is located on a ridge in northern- central New Jersey, within the Raritan Valley and Rahway Valley regions in the New York metropolitan area. At the 2010 United Sta ...

in 1897 where the family relocated.

Community work and suffrage

Johnson served as a housekeeper to the Eggers family for 45 years. In the late 1890s, she also organized a Bible study group that became Summit's first African-American church, Fountain Baptist Church. At the church, Johnson was founder and president of the missionary society and president of the Deaconess Board, among other leadership roles. By joining the all-white New Jersey Women's Suffrage Association (NJWSA), Johnson's leadership helped transform New Jersey's women's suffrage movement into a multi-racial movement. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, she organized black women and girls for war relief work, and kept the clubs going after the war. After suffrage was won in 1920, she organized voter registration campaigns, and gave speeches on behalf of candidates she endorsed. In the late 1920s Johnson established the Girls Industrial Home, a school for training African-American women and girls for domestic work. She was a founder and officer of the Summit chapter of the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...

, and served as a trustee of the

National Training School for Women and Girls The Nannie Helen Burroughs School, formerly known as National Training School for Women and Girls, was a private coeducational elementary school at 601 50th Street NE in Washington, D.C. The school was founded in 1909 by Nannie Helen Burroughs as T ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

She was also active in the Federation of Colored Women's Clubs of New Jersey, as chair of its anti-lynching campaign.

Personal life

Johnson died in 1939, in Summit, New Jersey, aged 69 years. Florence Spearing Randolph officiated at her funeral service, at the church Johnson founded.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Violet A 1870 births 1939 deaths People from Summit, New Jersey People from Wilmington, North Carolina American women in World War I American suffragists