Sol C. Johnson

Better known as Sol C. Johnson, he was born four years after slavery ended on November 29, 1869. He moved to Savannah from South Carolina as a child. As a pre-teen, he gotta job with Savannah Morning News throwing papers. After that, he worked for a couple more print shops before being hired by John H. Deveaux, owner of Savannah Tribune.

In 1889, Deveaux put Johnson in charge of the paper and he took that mf to the next level– the paper, the audience, and the office. When Deveaux died in 1910, Johnson bought Savannah Tribune and a bigger building for it.

He wasn’t scared to put his opinion out there. He believed black folks had a responsibility to save themselves through education, entrepreneurship, economic cooperation, land ownership, and sticking together as a people.

While leaders like Marcus Garvey tried to convince black folk to move to Africa or up north and outta the south, Johnson disagreed: Don’t let them people run you from your home; we built this.

Johnson was also known for wringing the hell outta his time. In addition to running the press, he was vice president of Wage Earners Bank, Secretary of the Georgia State Executive Committee, Grand Secretary of the Masons, vice president of the Enterprise Mercantile Co., director of Standard Life Insurance Company, director of the USO-YMCA of West Broad Street, curator at Carnegie Library, and more.

In 1938, he wrote: “History is one of the foundation stones of a race. It is left to us to retain ours as a heritage….If we forget, who will remember?” He died in 1954 having no wife or kids but plenty loved ones and a helluva legacy. Powell Laboratory opened 5 years after his death, eventually changing its name to Sol C. Johnson High School.

P.S.: He was also homies with Robert Abbott, founder of The Chicago Defender.

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