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Activist worked for
African Americans

His four years in Hawaii produced
a new holiday and a newspaper

OBITUARIES

By Steve Murray
Star-Bulletin

In 1940, Howard "Stretch" Johnson spearheaded a campaign to end segregation in major league baseball.

He fought for a state holiday in Hawaii honoring Martin Luther King Jr.

Johnson also founded Hawaii's first African-American newspaper.

The social activist and sociology professor died of cancer May 28 in Calvary Hospital in the Bronx, New York. He was 85.

Johnson was born in Orange, N.J., in 1915. As a young man he was a dancer and part of the Duke Ellington Revue at the legendary Apollo Theater.

During an early stint dancing at the Cotton Club, Johnson was asked by the owner to add a certain 16-year-old girl to the performance. He declined, and the future singer, dancer and actor Lena Horne missed her chance to join the act.

Johnson later joked that not only was he a bad dancer but a poor judge of talent.

A friend, Lou Rosof, a retired Department of Defense employee, testified to Johnson's sense of humor.

"He was always smiling and laughing," Rosof said. "He knew how to have a good time."

After volunteering for combat duty during World War II, Johnson fought in Italy and received two Purple Hearts.

Johnson came to Hawaii in 1986 with his partner, Ann Anthony, to visit her son and granddaughter. They stayed for four years.

He founded the Afro Hawaii News at the urging of their neighbor, the president of the African American Association in Honolulu. The group was looking to begin a newspaper, so Johnson volunteered.

The concern that led him to become active in myriad social programs in New York led him to create the Afro-American Leadership Coalition in Hawaii to help push for a day to honor Martin Luther King Jr. In 1989, Martin Luther King Day became an official state holiday.

Andre Wooten, a civil rights attorney in Honolulu, got to know Johnson during the campaign for the state holiday. Wooten credited Johnson's ability to build consensus among a broad range of people for the success in getting the bill passed.

Johnson's students at the State University of New York called him "Malimwu," which is Swahili for teacher. Anthony said it was as a teacher that Johnson made his biggest contributions.

"The most significant thing he did was to pass on his knowledge and experience to younger generations," she said.

"Stretch" Johnson touched those close to him. "I am proud to call him my friend, I am awed that he considered me a friend," Wooten said.

Johnson is survived by his partner, Anthony; his former wife, Martha Sherman Johnson; three children, Wini, Lisa and Wendy, and two grandchildren.

Services are scheduled tonight in New York City.