Colonel Stone Johnson

Colonel Stone Johnson (September 9, 1918 – January 19, 2012) was a civil rights activist born in Lowndes County, to Fannie and Colonel Johnson.[1] A railway worker and union representative, he got involved in the civil rights movement in Birmingham in the mid 1950s, working with Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth. He started a civil rights organization called the Civil Rights Guards that protected homes and business involved in the movement, usually while armed.[2][3]

Johnson may be best known for having helped to carry a Ku Klux Klan bomb away from Bethel Baptist Church in Birmingham, AL.[4] He also provided armed protection to nonviolent activists in Anniston, Alabama during the 1961 Freedom Rides, rescuing them from a segregationist mob.[5] [6] He also served for a time as vice-president of the Birmingham chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.[7]

An oft-repeated remark of Johnson, when asked how he'd managed to protect civil rights leaders given his commitment to nonviolence, Johnson replied, "With my nonviolent .38 special."[8] [9] [10]

References

  1. ↑ "Birmingham civil rights activist Colonel Stone Johnson has died (slideshow) | al.com". Blog.al.com. Retrieved 2012-01-20.
  2. ↑ Frye Gaillard, Cradle of Freedom: Alabama and the Movement That Changed America (University of Alabama Press, 2004) pg 82-83
  3. ↑ Lower, Thomas. "Colonel Stone Johnson dies at 93 - ABC 33/40 - Birmingham News, Weather, Sports". ABC 33/40. Retrieved 2013-07-23.
  4. ↑ Gray, Jeremy. Published on January 19, 2012
  5. ↑ "Excerpt: 'Freedom Riders' by RAYMOND ARSENAULT" National Public Radio
  6. ↑ Frye Gaillard, Cradle of Freedom: Alabama and the Movement That Changed America (University of Alabama Press, 2004) pg 82-83
  7. ↑ James W. Douglass, The Nonviolent Coming of God (Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2006), p. 27
  8. ↑ Timothy B. Tyson, Blood Done Sign My Name (Crown Publishing Group, 2007) p. 70
  9. ↑ Craig Werner, Higher Ground: Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Curtis Mayfield, and the Rise and Fall of American Soul (Crown Publishing Group, Dec 18, 2007)
  10. ↑ Amelia Thomson-Deveaux "Armed Resistance in the Civil Rights Movement: Charles E. Cobb and Danielle L. McGuire on Forgotten History" The American Prospect, JUNE 11, 2014