Whittington B. Johnson, Ph. D., Professor Emeritus, was born in Miami on April 29, 1931 to Joseph B. and Lucille Johnson, of Hatchet Bay, Eleuthera and Matthew Town, Inagua, Bahama Islands, respectively. He attended Saint Agnes’s Kindergarten, Dunbar Elementary School, and Booker T. Washington High School, graduating in 1949.

After high school, Dr. Johnson enrolled at West Virginia State College (now West Virginia State University) where he majored in History and graduated in 1953 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Army. Upon completing his tour of duty in May 1955 at the rank of a first lieutenant, he was honored discharged from the army at Fort Campbell where he was stationed with the 11th  Airborne Division (now the 101 Airborne Division). He continued his education at Bethune Cookman College (now Bethune Cookman University) for a year before attending Indiana University where he earned a Master of Arts for Teachers Degree (MAT) in 1957. In 1967, he enrolled in the doctoral program at the University of Georgia where he was awarded the Ph.D in History (1970).

Dr. Johnson’s career in higher education includes stints at Edward Waters College (1957-62), Savannah State College (now Savannah State University) from 1962-67, and the University of Miami (1970-2002). He retired after completing forty-five years of teaching. The first African American hired in a tenure-earning position by the University of Miami, Dr. Johnson taught American and African American history courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels, was Director of the African American Studies Center and chaired the History Department several times during his thirty-two years at the University of Miami.

He was tapped for several honors societies, including Phi Kappa Phi, the Iron Arrow Society, the highest honor society at the university, awarded The Student Government Association Social Science Professor of the year; The College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Professor; Woodson-Williams-Marshall Association Achievement Award; and the University of Miami Excellence in Teaching. Since retiring he has received “The Glover L. Smiley, Jr. Award from the West Virginia State University National Alumni Association,” and the “Living Legends Award” from The Booker T. Washington High School Alumni Association. At its 2012 commencement, the University of Miami presented him a plaque to honor his pioneering role in fostering racial diversity.

During his tenure in the academy, Dr. Johnson served on the Executive Board of the Urban League of Greater Miami, Ransom-Everglades Board of Trustees, and the Executive Board of the Diocese of Southeast Florida. He complemented his excellent teaching by achieving distinction as a publishing scholar and nationally known historian. He has written essays for The American National Biography, Encyclopedia of African American Business, and Dictionary of African American slavery; book reviews for the leading historical journals, including The American Historical Review, Journal of the Early American Republic, and The Journal of Southern History; and articles for several refereed journals.

Dr. Johnson has also published four books: The Promising Years, 1750-1830: The Emergence of Black Labor and Business (1993); Black Savannah, 1788-1864 (1996); Race Relations in the Bahamas, 1784-1834 (2000); and Post-Emancipation Race Relations in the Bahamas, 1834-1865 (2006). The latter three books are the leading studies on African Americans in Savannah during slavery and people of color in the Bahamas.

A longtime senior warden, chalice bearer, and lay reader at The Church of the Incarnation, Dr. Johnson is the husband of Imogene Johnson, father of Toni L. Thomas (Nigel), Traci-Liegh Curran (Shannon), and Todd L. Johnson (Mariela); and grandfather of Jasmine M. and Cameron Johnson, Noah, Sydney, and Sophia Thomas, and Seamus, Kyliegh, Aine-Gene, and Noemi Curran.