Monday, February 23, 2026

A00161 - George Johnson, The Last Great Product of the Dunbar System

 

skipjen2865@aol.com 
From:skipjen2865@aol.com
To:Everett Jenkins
Mon, Feb 23 at 2:08 AM
In response to my first post regarding George Robert Johnson, Jr., Amherst College Class of 1973, I received a startling post from Walter White, Amherst College Class of 1976.  In his post, Walter notes that George was a student and protege of his grandfather, Frederick Parker, Amherst College Class of 1920.  I was stunned so I asked for additional information, which Walter has provided and is set forth in the email thread set forth below.  i viewed this material and began to realize that George Johnson was not an outlier but rather perhaps the last of a long line of examples of black excellence attributable to the Dunbar educational system that produced Charles Hamilton Houston, William Hastie, and Charles Drew, just to name a few.

Fred Parker is no longer with us, and I do not know what happened to the program which gave us George Johnson, but I, for one, am extremely grateful to Fred, George and all those you have given us role models of black excellence to emulate, and hope that somehow, we can one day duplicate what once was regularly done.

Peace,

Everett "Skip" Jenkins
Class of 1975 
February 23, 2026

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: skipjen2865@aol.com <skipjen2865@aol.com>
To: Walter H. White, Jr. <whwhitejr@protonmail.com>
Cc: Winifred White Neisser <neisser4@msn.com>; Adrienne White-Faines <awhitefaines@gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, February 22, 2026 at 08:35:59 AM PST
Subject: Re: George Robert Johnson, Jr., Amherst College Class of 1973, Carver High School (Columbus, Georgia) Valedictorian, Columbia Law School Graduate, Long Time Amherst College Trustee

What You have provided is more than enough. It gives us another insight into the source of black excellence.  And how one man can influence so many people.

Thank you for sharing.



Sent from the all new AOL app for iOS

On Sunday, February 22, 2026, 8:31 AM, Walter H. White, Jr. <whwhitejr@protonmail.com> wrote:

go ahead.  I wish I had more info but my materials here in England are a bit thin. 

Best

Walter


Walter H. White, Jr
London
+447768003262
+1 202 316 6685
whwhitejr@protonmail.com
whwjr@me.com
Pronouns: he/his/him

Sent with Proton Mail secure email.

On Sunday, 22 February 2026 at 16:11, skipjen2865@aol.com <skipjen2865@aol.com> wrote:
Walter,

This is very important info. If you do not mind I will share it with others tonight when I present Part Two of what will be a four part series on George Johnson.  Hope all is well. And that you enjoyed the hockey game. It was great!

Skip


Sent from the all new AOL app for iOS

On Sunday, February 22, 2026, 7:47 AM, Walter H. White, Jr. <whwhitejr@protonmail.com> wrote:

OK Skip you are going to make me work for it.

Frederick Parker received his Hon Degree from Amherst not just because he was an outstanding teacher/professor who opposed segregation, but because he and Samuel Johnson ran a program in the South called the Summer Studies Skills Program.  It was sponsored by the Presbyterian Church (and a few other grants).  The program sought out outstanding African American, Native American and Hispanic Students from the South with a high concentration of talented students from rural under resourced schools and gave them advanced academic preparation for college.  More than 400 students participated in this program (all students of color) and it (a bit like Dunbar High School in D.C.) became a feeder of students of color into the Ivy league schools including of course the little three. I can not name most of the students (my sister Winifred did participate in the program) but I can tell you that that is how Kenneth Manning (who I know well) made it from Dillon South Carolina to Harvard and George Johnson (we were close at Amherst because of the relationship) from Columbus Georgia to Amherst, George was involved in Fred's PhD ceremony. 

At some point SSSP was run out of Georgia by the Klan and they moved the program to Knoxville College in Knoxville Tennessee.  During that time Fred recommended scores (and perhaps hundreds) of students (mostly Black) to Amherst, Williams, Harvard & Yale. et.al. 

This is of course was before the internet so the online record is scarce but there is evidence of. its existence. One of the surviving programs is the Samuel H. Johnson Foundation.  There are other descriptions of the program scattered on the net. 










There have been several Reunions two of which I attended in Atlanta but that was many years ago and before I moved overseas (e.g. pre 1994).  I was recognized as the grandson of that brutally tough math professor...The program alumni included scientists, physicians, lawyers, politicians, college professors and college presidents.  Much of our family archives were destroyed in a flood in Wisconsin after that we donated what remaining correspondence that we had between Fred Parker and his former students to the Amherst archives. 

I hope that this helps. 

Walter
    


Walter H. White, Jr
London
+447768003262
+1 202 316 6685
whwhitejr@protonmail.com
whwjr@me.com
Pronouns: he/his/him

Sent with Proton Mail secure email.




On Sunday, 22 February 2026 at 14:57, skipjen2865@aol.com <skipjen2865@aol.com> wrote:
When and where? George graduated from Carver High in Columbus, Georgia.  When and where did he hook up with your grandfather?
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)