Charles D. Johnson Oral History Interview, 2024

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Summary

Creator:
Johnson, Charles D. (Charles Denton)
Abstract:
Charles Denton Johnson, PhD, is an Associate Professor of History at North Carolina Central University (NCCU). He holds degrees from Morehouse College, NCCU, and Howard University, specializing in African Diaspora, African American, and Public History. Charles Denton Johnson is the son of Charles Johnson, MD, the first Black faculty member at Duke University School of Medicine and first Black physician on the faculty at Duke. This collection contains 1 oral history interview conducted on January 31, 2024 by Danielle Okotcha as part of the Bass Connections Agents of Change Oral History Project. In the interview, Charles Denton Johnson discusses his father, Charles Johnson, his role as the first Black faculty member at Duke; his experiences with his father through his youth; and racial relations in healthcare. The themes of this interview include racial justice and healthcare.
Extent:
1 interview (1 transcript) and 1.89 GB
Collection ID:
OH.JOHNSONCD

Background

Scope and content:

Includes 1 oral history interview with Charles Denton Johnson, PhD, conducted on January 31, 2024 by Danielle Okotcha as part of the Bass Connections Agents of Change Oral History Project.

In the January 31, 2024 interview, Charles Denton Johnson discusses his father, Charles Johnson, MD, his role as the first Black faculty member at Duke; his experiences with his father through his youth; and racial relations in healthcare. The themes of this interview include racial justice and healthcare.

Biographical / historical:

Charles Johnson, MD
Charles Johnson, MD, was born on July 28, 1927, in Acmar, Alabama. He earned his BS degree in physics from Howard University in 1953. During that time, he also served in the U.S. Air Force, rising to the rank of captain and serving as a fighter pilot. He entered medical school at Howard University in 1959, graduating in 1963. He spent the last two years of medical school at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Bethesda Naval Hospital, and the National Institutes of Health. From 1964 to 1966, he conducted his internship at District of Columbia General Hospital in Washington, D.C., followed by a residency in medicine at Lincoln Hospital and Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina. From 1966 to 1967, he did a fellowship in endocrinology at Duke in the Department of Medicine. From 1967 to 1970, Johnson was in the private practice of internal medicine and endocrinology in Durham, also serving as a clinical associate in medicine at Duke.

On September 1, 1970, on the recommendation of Eugene A. Stead Jr., MD, former chair of the Department of Medicine and physician-in-chief of Duke Hospital, and with the approval of James Wyngaarden, MD, then chair of medicine, Johnson was appointed assistant professor of medicine in the Duke University School of Medicine and moved his practice to the Private Diagnostic Clinic (PDC). In 1974, he was promoted to associate professor of medicine with tenure, and, in 1995, Johnson was promoted to full professor. He retired in 1996 but remained a professor emeritus and an active mentor and leader for Duke faculty and students until his passing.

While at Duke, Johnson served on the Medical School Admissions Committee, where he was instrumental in improving Duke's recruiting practices to attract more diverse candidates. By the time he retired, in 1996, Duke had minority faculty and house staff in every clinical department, and more minority medical students than ever. In 1997, Johnson was appointed and served as special advisor to Dr. Ralph Snyderman, chancellor for health affairs at Duke from 1989 to 2004. He also served on Duke's Athletic Council. In 1997, Johnson was awarded the Medal for Distinguished Meritorious Service to Duke University, Duke's highest award. He received the Julian Abele Award for Outstanding Service to Duke University and the larger community in 1985 from the Black Professional and Graduate Students of Duke.

Johnson was an active member of the National Medical Association (NMA), the Black counterpart to the once-segregated American Medical Association. On July 29, 1990, he was inaugurated as the 89th president of the 16,000-member NMA. He also served as an advisor on aging and health issues facing African-Americans at the university, state, and national levels. He was a delegate to the 44th World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1990 and was an active member of many medical, civic, and religious organizations.

Johnson led a remarkable life, shaped by his dual roles as a pioneer when he became the first Black faculty member at Duke, and an advocate for the inclusion of additional Black faculty members and medical students. As a whole, his legacy is defined by his unwavering dedication to patient care and his steadfast pursuit of excellence, both as a physician and as an individual. Johnson passed away on December 14, 2021.

Charles Denton Johnson, PhD
Charles Denton Johnson, PhD, is an Associate Professor of History at North Carolina Central University (NCCU) where, since 2015, he serves as the director of public history. He holds degrees from Morehouse College (BA), NCCU (MA), and Howard University (PhD). Johnson is a scholar of African diaspora, African American, and public history. Specifically, he is fascinated with 20th-century African-Diaspora social movements and how informal transnational and local/community relations shape history.

Johnson is an award-winning teacher and a co-author of two books: "Topics on African Diaspora History" (2016) and "NC A&T vs. NCCU: More Than Just a Game" (2023), a publication that chronicles the 100-year history of the Aggie vs. Eagle football rivalry in photos and newspaper articles.

An avid oral historian, he uses oral history as an archive to preserve and tell histories of Black experiences that might otherwise go unpreserved and untold. Johnson has won numerous awards and is listed in Who's Who in America.

His father is Charles Johnson, MD.

Acquisition information:
Accession A2024.071 (transferred by Rebecca Williams, May 2024)
Processing information:

Processed by Lucy Waldrop: October 2024

Arrangement:
Organized into the following series: Interview, January 31, 2024.
Rules or conventions:
DACS

Contents

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Terms of access:

Copyright for Official University records is held by Duke University; all other copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Charles D. Johnson Oral History Interview, Duke University Medical Center Archives.