Johnnette Johnson – Race & Racism at the University of Richmond

Behind the Microphone

Irina Rogova Uncategorized September 19, 2019August 23, 2019A&S Summer Fellows 2019, Johnnette Johnson, Oral Histories

by Johnnette Johnson

Johnnette Johnson is a rising senior from Marksville, Louisiana majoring in American Studies and French. Though her journey with the Race & Racism Project only began this summer, she has been involved in racial justice and community work since her matriculation at UR. A peer mentor and UR Downtown ambassador, when she’s not on campus or with family she’s out enjoying nature. She hopes to continue doing the work of commemorative justice and collective healing.

It was nearing the end of June and I knew I needed to finalize a subject for my podcast. Having interviewed two football players, I thought about focusing on that, but I knew I had no real connection to the subject. I juggled with the idea of why there’s no Black Studies program or department, but that sounded like a lot of extra research. I also thought about doing something related to the need for safe spaces for students of color, but I felt I didn’t have the material. But after I sat in on Katina Moss’s interview, I immediately knew what my podcast would be about.

Regeneration and Resistance at the VMFA

Irina Rogova Uncategorized August 28, 2019August 22, 2019A&S Summer Fellows 2019, Johnnette Johnson, Site Visit

by Johnnette Johnson

Cosmologies from the Tree of Life: Art from the African American South is the exhibit that caught my eye while on the search for my in-Richmond site visit.

“Rooted in African aesthetic legacies, familial tradition, and communal ethos,” the exhibit set out to center artists who were often marginalized as uneducated or self-taught. After reading about the site, I was excited to see what it was about and I was curious to know how the artworks would draw a connection between “cosmologies,” “tree of life,” and “African American South.”

The difference between storytelling and truthtelling

Irina Rogova Uncategorized August 7, 2019July 31, 2019A&S Summer Fellows 2019, Johnnette Johnson, Site Visit

by Johnnette Johnson

Left or right: Shira Greer, Mr. Richard Stewart, and Johnnette Johnson.

Every day, whether we realize it or not, we walk in the footprints of the past. When this truth is acknowledged and explicitly recognized, it has the potential to help us move forward with clarity and understanding.

The Pocahontas Island Black History Museum overflows with memories and artifacts, so much so that it sometimes felt like I would never see or understand everything. However, the rememories* that surface through conversation with museum founders Richard Stewart and Amanda Wyatt came to me with a clarity that I knew was connected to the land.

Blackness is Vast

Irina Rogova Uncategorized July 10, 2019June 27, 2019A&S Summer Fellows 2019, Johnnette Johnson

by Johnnette Johnson

Our experiences construct who we are and how we see the world. A single person’s mindset, molded by their life experience, can easily take on a bias that manifests itself in the form of judgement or predisposition.

These facts are seemingly digestible. But when it is time be critical of oneself, personal bias is a hard cookie to swallow. Uninvited and unannounced, this process of self-analysis fell into my lap during my first interview with Mr. James “JR” Reed (’81).

An Unapologetically Black Space

Irina Rogova Uncategorized June 24, 2019June 14, 2019A&S Summer Fellows 2019, Johnnette Johnson

by Johnnette Johnson

Black alumnus Stan Jones’ (’83) words rung in my ears as I sat in front of the university’s commons.

“Where I come from, you recognize humanity.”