William Hallock Johnson
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
William Hallock Johnson | |
|---|---|
,_president_of_Lincoln_University_of_Pennsylvania_from_1926_to_1936.jpg) Johnson in 1913 | |
| President of Lincoln University | |
| In office 1926–1936 | |
| Preceded by | Walter Livingston Wright |
| Succeeded by | Walter Livingston Wright |
| Personal details | |
| Born | December 3, 1865 New York City, US |
| Died | November 29, 1963 (aged 97) |
| Resting place | Princeton Cemetery, Princeton, New Jersey |
| Alma mater | Princeton University (AB, AM) Princeton Seminary (BD) Columbia University (PhD) Centre College (DD) |
| Occupation | Educator, academic administrator |
William Hallock Johnson (December 3, 1865 – November 29, 1963) was an American educator who served as president of the historically black Lincoln University of Pennsylvania from 1926 to 1936. He had a liberalizing effect on the institution, presiding over the appointment of its first Black faculty member, and substantially reduced the university's debt.
Johnson was born in New York City on December 3, 1865, to John Edgar and Frances Elizabeth (Hallock) Johnson. His father was a banker. Johnson attended Dr. Chapin's Collegiate School in New York and received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1888 from Princeton University, where he served on the board of the Princetonian (1884–1885) and as an editor of Nassau Literary Magazine (1887). He went on to receive his Master of Arts degree from Princeton in 1897, his Bachelor of Divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1898, and his PhD in theology from Columbia University in 1902. Johnson spent a summer studying abroad in Germany at the University of Jena in 1904. He was ordained to the Presbyterian ministry in 1897.[1][2][3]
Johnson taught at Union Theological Seminary in 1891, Princeton Theological Seminary from 1894 to 1897, and Danville Seminary (where he taught New Testament literature and exegesis) and Centre College of Kentucky (logic and psychology) from 1897 to 1901. From September 1903 he was Professor of Greek and New Testament Literature at Lincoln University, also serving as dean of the faculty for several years. In 1914, he received a doctorate of divinity from Centre College.[1][2][3]
Presidency
Johnson was appointed president by Lincoln's board of trustees on November 6, 1926, beginning his decade of service in the office on December 1, 1926. Johnson inherited an institution in financial and moral crisis. Amid crumbling finances and a deteriorating physical plant, Johnson also faced demands from Black alumni for a greater say in the running of the institution. Trustees refused to appoint a single Black alumnus to the board or professor to the faculty. Johnson intervened and the trustees finally appointed Eugene P. Roberts as Lincoln's first Black trustee in 1927. Two additional Black trustee appointments followed, along with the first appointment of a Black faculty member. Johnson also forced the retirement of four conservative long-time faculty members who had refused to support his administration's shift from racial paternalism.[4]
Johnson liquidated debt and raised funds to pay for new buildings and campus improvements, including a new residence hall, gymnasium, power plant, water tower and fire protection system, and sewage treatment plant. Through fundraising and economies, he reduced Lincoln's debt from $197,000 to $74,000. He benefited from the support of former acting president and professor of mathematics Walter Livingston Wright, who succeeded Johnson as president in 1936 and continued his reforms.[4]
