author
Kathryn M. (Kathryn Magnolia) Johnson
1878–1954
A teacher turned activist and writer, she helped document the experiences of Black Americans during World War I and worked early on with the NAACP. Her life joined education, civil rights, and firsthand reporting in a way that still feels vivid today.
1 Audiobook
Two Colored women with the American Expeditionary Forces
by Addie W. Hunton, Kathryn M. (Kathryn Magnolia) Johnson
About the author
Born in Ohio in 1878, Kathryn Magnolia Johnson was an American educator, civil rights activist, and author. She studied at Wilberforce University and the University of North Dakota, taught school, and became one of the early members of the NAACP, where she traveled widely organizing branches and promoting the work of the organization.
Johnson is best known to many readers as the co-author, with Addie W. Hunton, of Two Colored Women with the American Expeditionary Forces (1920). The book drew on their wartime service and offered an important account of the treatment of Black soldiers and civilians during and after World War I, while also recording the dignity, courage, and community they found.
Her writing and activism grew out of the same purpose: expanding opportunity and making sure Black lives and achievements were seen clearly. She died in 1954, but her work remains a valuable window into both early civil rights organizing and African American women's history.