Johnson, Lyman T., 1906-1997

Lyman Tefft Johnson was born in Columbia, Tennessee in 1906. He received a bachelor's degree from Virginia Union College in 1930 and a master's degree in history from the University of Michigan in 1931. In 1933, he joined the teaching staff at Louisville Central High School, beginning many years of service to Louisville's public schools, service that included being elected to the Louisville Board of Education. Lyman Johnson was pivotal in the Civil Rights movement in Kentucky, and particularly in Louisville. He was a plaintiff in the cases that led to the desegregation of the University of Kentucky in 1949 and the Louisville public schools in the 1970s. He also fought successfully to equalize pay for white and black teachers in the public schools and was a leader in the fight to make theaters, parks, public housing, etc. open to all Louisvillians, regardless of race.