Edward A. (Edward Austin) Johnson

Raised in the years just after emancipation, Edward A. Johnson built an unusually wide-ranging career as a teacher, attorney, newspaper editor, and public official. He studied at Atlanta University and later became connected with Shaw University, where he also served in legal education.

As an author, he is best known for A School History of the Negro Race in America from 1619 to 1890, an early history text written for students that highlighted Black life and accomplishment in the United States. His writing reflected a larger mission: to preserve historical truth and make education a tool for dignity and progress.

Johnson also left a mark in public life. After moving to New York, he became the first African American elected to the New York State Assembly in the twentieth century, a milestone that added to his legacy as both a man of letters and a barrier-breaking civic leader.