Will Johnson
Will Johnson
peace giving people
There is nowhere you can go and only be with people who are like you. Give it up.
community democracy enough
If we dwell in a community that is comfortable, then it's probably not broad enough a coalition.
enough coalitions broads
If you're in a coalition and you're comfortable, you know it's not a broad enough coalition.
church loud saved
I went to a church where you could not sing out loud in the service until you had been saved
school thinking rights
I think the Civil Rights Movement changed that trajectory for me. The first thing I did was leave school. I was suspended for my participation in Movement demonstrations in my hometown, December, 1961
america effort mind
The Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife, actually, was an effort to put something on the mall in Washington so American tourists could walk through America, and in their minds everything on the mall would be American
people asking firsts
Well, the first time I ran into the term religion, people were asking whether you had any. You know, some people had religion and some people didn't have religion
research just-being producers
But I'm a historian. I wasn't interested in just being a producer, I was interested in doing research and presenting that research to a general public
mean years twenties
I was at the Smithsonian for twenty years, and I'm still at the Smithsonian as a curator emeritus, and I still plan to figure out what that means for me at this point in my life
successful thinking able
If I had been at a University I don't think I would have been able to have the experience I had in my Smithsonian work. I don't think I have been as successful
thinking subjects persons
I just don't think one person has that much to contribute to any subject
winning african-american way
Coming up in the African-American culture, we were taught that we belonged to the universe and society was wrong in the way it dealt with us. We had to learn to express and affirm values not from the winning position.
rights singing movement
The Civil Rights Movement also reaffirmed me as a singer. It taught me that singing was not entertainment, it was something else.
sweet rocks balance
I organized Sweet Honey In The Rock in 1973. The music was sanity and balance.