Willard R. Johnson, Sr., was born near Leavenworth, Kansas, ca. 1900, and was a graduate of the University of Kansas. Johnson served as a bacteriologist with the U.S. Public Health Service, and became the head of the Biology Department at the Tennessee Agricultural and Industrial State College. In 1933, Johnson moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where he served as the first African American member of the local Veterans Hospital. In the 1940s he moved to Pasadena, California, where he established his own medical technician laboratory, working there until his retirement in 1965. Johnson married Dorothy N. Stovall Johnson, together they had four children: Richard, Willard Jr., Roberta and Alberta. Willard Johnson, Jr., founded the Kansas Institute of African American and Native American Family History (KIAANAFH) in 1991.
From the guide to the Willard Johnson family papers, 1920-1999, (University of Kansas Kenneth Spencer Research Library Kansas Collection)
