There are a lot of great men in this world, some get their due recognition and some don’t. So I couldn’t help feeling after I read the bios and feature stories on the Johnson brothers, Livingstone and Justin, that these are two of the greatest men who have ever lived and neither have received their due recognition.
This is why I’m glad I was a part of the New Pittsburgh Courier honoring these two giants as our Legacy Award winners as part of the 50 Men of Excellence. I’m not knocking the previous winners, they deserved it, but these brothers’ accomplishments in the time period that they accomplished them is just awesome. I’m sorry! These brothers’ accomplishments in today’s time period would be awesome.
First of all, a high school education was not something easy to come by during the 1950s and ‘60s for Blacks, but a college degree, then a law degree? For those of you who have been sleeping under a log or rock, these were Jim Crow segregated times. I know some of you say, well they lived in the north. Pittsburgh was just as segregated as the South, they just didn’t have written laws. They had the unwritten laws making it very clear where Negroes were and were not allowed.
Yet these brothers, led by Livingstone, and guided by family, father and mother, dared to do what many would have said was impossible in today’s world let alone in the 1950s and ‘60s. They both joined the military as fighter pilots and excelled. One in the Korean War the other in the Vietnam War.
Then following in their father, Oliver’s footsteps they both became lawyers, and joined the law firm of Johnson, Johnson, and Johnson. It must have really been hard on Justin, being the youngest, having to live up to first his father then his big brother.
But not only did they become lawyers, they were so successful that they were appointed and elected to the bench, for many, many years. They became two of the most respected men, not only in Pittsburgh, but in the country.
At the 50 Men of Excellence event the planners try to keep it short and sweet, so people can get in and get out. But when Livingstone got up to speak every one knew he was a talker and didn’t know what to expect. He made it very clear to everyone that he had been asked to be brief, but being who he is, he didn’t know what that was.
But once he started talking, everyone was hanging on his every word as he brought history to life.
He began using a Courier article written during the 1950s about eight Black lawyers who were the first Blacks to be admitted to the Allegheny County Bar Association. After reading the article, he stated that these were the men who opened the doors for Blacks in the legal professions and that they were the men who were the true legends. But I say as great as these eight men were, the Johnson brothers have as much to do with opening the doors in the criminal and civil justice system as these eight. If they had not accomplished what they did, those doors would have been slammed right back shut. Believe me a whole lot of White lawyers, judges, and people as a whole were hoping they failed so they could slam the doors shut behind them. But the Johnson brothers didn’t allow that to happen, they followed in the eight men’s footsteps making their footprint even larger than the men who preceded them.
Livingstone really amazed me in his ability to recognize everybody, and not having the big head. He talked to everyone who would listen. And we all should have been listening.
It’s my regret that only around 300 people were able to witness it. There should be some way that our young people can see, and hear what was done to open the doors, and keep them open, for them–and what is going to happen if they don’t start putting forth more effort to keep those doors open in all fields.
It’s so amazing when you realize what they had to go through in comparison to what young people today face. I laugh when people talk about all the obstacles young people have to face today, and how hard it is for them. Yes, they are right, but it’s nothing like the challenges our forefathers had to overcome.
Something else that impressed me was that not only did their father and mother stay married for years, but also both of them have been married for 50 plus years and are extremely proud of their adult children and grandchildren.
I just want to say thank you to the two Johnson brothers for being who you are. For facing all the challenges you faced and not backing down, not giving up, not dropping out. But still staying grounded and down to earth, mostly because of the guidance you got from your parents.
Thanks Justin. Thanks, Livingstone. Oh, and thanks, Florence Elizabeth, and LeeBrun Johnson, their wives of 50 plus years.
(Ulish Carter is the managing editor of the New Pittsburgh Courier.)
