Alfred Henry Johnson

Alfred Henry Johnson was born on January 12, 1890, in Germantown, Pennsylvania. According to his biography, his mother, Carry Cleveland Johnson, and father, Alfred Henry Johnson, Sr., died during his adolescence, and he went to school sporadically. He was later adopted by Louise Howard and eventually graduated from Northeast High School in 1910. After high school, he worked several jobs during the daytime and took night classes at the Drexel Institute to become a teacher. He received private tutoring from Justus Fleck on vocal and violin music.¹

In 1914, Johnson formed a Black male sextet, the Pennsylvania Larks, which played African American melodies and minstrel songs at concerts across the Midwest. After playing with the Pennsylvania Larks, he attended Cheyney Training School for a year and then returned to Philadelphia where he directed community singing efforts with the War Camp Community Service. In 1919, he entered Yale University with the intention of completing a bachelor of music degree on an accelerated path. He funded his education by playing at recitals across the Northeast and the South with his performances advertised in newspapers. In 1920, he won the Yale School of Music’s Lockwood Scholarship for singing. However, he left in 1922 due to “nervous trouble” from the additional work needed to finance his way through school.²

After leaving Yale, he became the director of music for Black schools in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. During his tenure, he oversaw the training of teachers and organized choruses for the communities. He also married Thelma C. Hollard, a local, in 1924. From 1924 to 1926, he returned to Cheyney Training School to teach music. He later permanently settled in Washington, D.C., to become the director of music for the city’s public schools. He served the city in different musical education positions until his death.³

Johnson helped establish the Fine Arts Council for Washington, D.C., to encourage Black youths to take up the arts. He was also a member of the National Association of Music Teachers in Colored Schools and the Pennsylvania Music Education Association. He was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha. He died on March 16, 1971, in Washington, D.C., and his obituary was published in Winston-Salem.⁴