Charles Vernon Johnson (b. 1928) was raised in Arkansas and moved to Seattle in 1954 to attend law school at the University of Washington. Upon graduation, Mr. Johnson went into private practice, and shortly thereafter took on leading roles in both the Seattle Branch of the NAACP and in the Central Area Civil Rights Organization. He was heavily involved in the local civil rights movement, contributing legal insight and counsel for various projects, including boycotts of the Bon Marche, Safeway stores, and others that wouldn't hire African Americans. In 1969, Mr. Johnson was appointed as a Seattle Municipal Court Judge, and in 1981, became a King County Superior Court judge, a position he retained until his retirement in 1998.
In this image Charles V. Johnson speaks to the King County Commissioners (now King County Council) at a hearing on the need for housing legislation to open neighborhoods beyond the Central District to minorities. Mr. Johnson led a demonstration for open housing with 500 people in attendance at the City Administration building and supported a group of NAACP youth in their sit-in there. These demonstrations resulted in the passing of the Open Housing Ordinance in 1968 and in the formation of the King County Human Rights Commission, now King County Civil Rights Program, an impartial agency which investigates discrimination under King County code.
Caption information sources: "Johnson, Charles V. (b. 1928)," by Mary T. Henry, HistoryLink.org Essay 8610; and http://depts.washington.edu/civilr/johnson.htm Caption information source: "Clinton Urges Open Housing For County," The Seattle Times, March 3, 1964, p. 29. Caption information also derived from captions written by Post-Intelligencer staff and attached to the back of the photograph.
