During his life, the Rev. Robert Ross Johnson ’43 came to be described as a “visionary”; “activist-pastor“; “spiritual leader”; and “pillar of strength and compassion.” Here, campus historian Dale Soden shares about the incredible alumnus who made a significant and lasting impact wherever he served:
Robert Ross Johnson was born and raised in Spokane, one of six siblings. In high school, he developed a citywide reputation as a superb vocalist and performer. In 1939, Johnson entered Whitworth College (now university), where he was one of only two African American students. He majored in social science, minored in biology and studied voice performance. The 1943 yearbook identified him as the student with “Whitworth’s most widely known personality.” He served as manager of the Whitworth Chorus and secretary of the “W” club (letterman’s club).
After graduating from Whitworth in 1943, Johnson made a life-changing decision to enroll in Colgate Rochester Theological Seminary in Rochester, N.Y. In his studies he focused on the Social Gospel, which applies Christian ethics to social reform. Upon graduation, Johnson was ordained into the ministry. He holds the distinction of being the first African American Whitworth alumnus to become an ordained minister.
The Rev. Johnson pastored churches in New York state and Chicago before founding and pastoring St. Albans Congregational Church – United Church of Christ in Queens, N.Y., in 1953. He founded the Family Life Center there to provide educational and family services for the surrounding community. (The center was renamed the Robert Ross Johnson Family Life Center in 1991.)
Johnson was committed not only to social justice but also to civil rights. In 1963, he organized a caravan of buses from St. Albans to attend the March on Washington, where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his iconic “I have a Dream” speech. From there, the Rev. Johnson’s engagement broadened. His activism included helping organize home-visit exchanges in Queens between hundreds of African Americans and white Americans to break down racial stereotypes, and facilitating a campaign at St. Albans to financially support six historically Black colleges in the South.
In 1969, New York’s mayor appointed the Rev. Johnson to the Board of Higher Education. And for 23 years he served as a chaplain for the New York City Department of Correction.
After leading St. Albans for nearly four decades, the “activist-pastor” retired in 1991. The Rev. Johnson passed away in 2000. In April 2024, nearly a quarter century after his death, church congregants, community members and dignitaries celebrated the unveiling of Reverend Robert Ross Johnson Boulevard, the street located in front of St. Albans Congregational Church and the Robert Ross Johnson Family Life Center. The impact of this visionary servant-leader who acted on his Christian conviction to love his neighbors and work for social justice remains indelible.
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