TO THE CHAPTER INVISIBLE
He then narrowly missed being assigned as a draftee to the submarine force as a part of the Navy’s first effort to assign African Americans to their subsurface fleet. However, his “volunteer” sta- tus enabled him the ability to choose another opportunity, so he enrolled in aviation training as part of the Tuskegee Airmen. He became an aviator with the 477 th Bomber Group, attaining the rank of Second Lieutenant. After a brief stint with the Bomber Group, he moved on to pilot training when World War II ended. He was the only commissioned African- American navigator from the state of Delaware to serve in WWII. After the war, Brother Johnson returned to IU where he competed on the univer- sity’s track team. The highlight of his track career was running on IU’s win- ning Shuttle Hurdle Championship of America relay team at the Penn Relays in 1947. After graduation, Brother Johnson taught physical education and kinesiol- ogy at Prairie View A&M College (now University) in Prairie View, Texas. In 1950, Brother Johnson returned to Delaware for good. He joined the faculty at William C. Jason High School in Georgetown, Delaware where he taught physical education, chemistry, and health education. He also coached track, basketball, and football. After earning state school certification in science, he became the first African American teacher at Wilmington’s War- ner Junior High School in Wilmington teaching physical and earth sciences. Besides teaching, Brother Johnson coached track at Warner from 1960 to 1969. His teams won several city and county championships and one state championship. Many of his athletes went on to become high school and collegiate champions. After short stint, as assistant principal at the Wilmington Public School District, he returned to the classroom at Warner in addition to managing the operation of the school’s planetarium and serving as chairman of the science department until his retire-
ment in 1981.
“They loved him,” said his wife, Margo. “He always said you have to be firm, fair, and consistent. ... He didn’t bring race into it. He was just a teacher. And he earned the respect of the children and of their parents.” In 2013, Delaware’s congres- sional delegation awarded Johnson a Congressional Gold Medal as a member of the Tuskegee Airmen. Rep. John Carney, D-Del said of Johnson, “We owe an incredible debt of gratitude to people like Mr. Johnson, who started it all. You allowed our country to live up to its ideals —and face down discrimina-
tion and racism while you were defend- ing our freedoms around the world.” “We wanted to prove that we were equal, if not better, than a lot of people,” Johnson told The News Journal in 2013 when he was given a replica of the Congressional Gold Medal that the Tuskegee Airmen received in 2007. “We had a lot of indignities in some cases, but there were those who came along with us ... We just knew that we were as capable as the next person.” He was also included in the Tuskegee Airmen’s section on the Wall of Honor
son. He is survived by his wife of 38 years, Margo; their son, Todd E. Johnson of New York, New York; and his son by a previous marriage, Eric T. Johnson of Washington, DC.
at the National Air and Space Museum and was recognized as an inductee in the Delaware Aviation Hall of Fame in 2016. Brother Johnson was a member of the Indiana University Alumni Associa- tion and the Tuskegee Air- men, Inc. Brother Johnson was preceded in death by his siblings, Mary Yancey, Margaret Gardiner, and George L. Johnson, and his daughter, Cheryl A. John-
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