Johnson receives state history honor
Ron DeBrock, ronald.debrock@thetelegraph.com
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Charlotte E. Johnson of Alton on Friday received the 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Illinois State Historical Society.
ALTON Charlotte E. Johnson received the 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Illinois State Historical Society via Zoom on Friday.
ISHS Director William Furry and Cindy Reinhardt of the Madison County Historical Society delivered the award to her home on Tuesday.
“Johnson is being recognized for her knowledge and expertise,” said Furry. “But her reputation as a historical resource, and her generosity as a researcher, are hallmarks of the letters in support of her nomination.”
The aftermath of the 1908 Race Riot in Springfield gave rise to the formation of the NAACP.
Dr. Wesley Robinson-McNeese recalled a scene where he was swimming with some Air Force buddies in the waters off Biloxi Beach in Mississippi in the late 1960s.
A stranger pulled up in a pickup truck and, producing a shotgun and hurling epithets, promised that he was going to blow away McNeese, who is Black, if he didn t get out of the water. My friends said, Wes, you’re a soldier, you don’t have to do that, McNeese remembered. I said, He’s not aiming the shotgun at you guys. He’s aiming it at me.