"Mordecai-Wyatt-Johnson" (January 4,1891-Septemper 10,1976)

Was an American educator and pastor.He served as the first African American president of  Howard University,from 1926-1960.Mordecai has considered one of the three three leading African American preachers of the early 20th century,along with Vernon Johns and Howard Thurman.

He was born in Paris Tennessee,the son of former slaves Rev.Wyatt J.Jordan & Carolyn Freeman.

Mordecai receive his B.A. from Morehouse College in 1911,and second bachelor degree from the University of Chicago two years later.He studied at several institutions of higher education,including the Rochester Theological Seminary,Harvard University,Howard University,and the Gammon Theological Seminary.

His daddy was a preacher and mill worker.His mama was a domestic worker for one of  the prominent families in town.He married Ann Ethelyn Gardner on December 25th,1916.They had five children:Carolyn Elizabeth Johnson,Modecai Wyatt Johnson Jr.,Archer Clement Johnson,William Howard Johnson,and Anna Faith Johnson.

Following a brief stint as secretary of the western region of the Student Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA),in 1917 he became pastor of the First Baptist Church in Charleston,West Virginia.He later founded a chapter of the NAACP .

On June 26,at the age of  36,Mordecai was unanimously elected the eleventh President of Howard University,becoming the first African American to serve as the permanent head of that institution .He served until 1960.Prior to his appointment Mordecai had served as Professor of Economics and history at Morehouse.He had also served as Pastor of  the First Baptist Church in Charleston,West Virginia.In 1929,the NAACP awarded Mordecai the Spingarn Medal (its highest honor at that time),for Mordecai ability to secure annual federal funds to support the university's financial future.During his tenure,Mordecai appointed Charles Hamilton Houston as dean of the law school.He raised millions of dollars for new buildings and for upgrading all of the schools.National honor societies,including Phi Beta Kappa,were established on the campus of Howard.During his administration,it was said that Howard had the greatest collection of African American scholars to be found anywhere.Notable scholars at Howard include:Alain Locke,a plasma;Percy Julian,a noted chemist;and Sterling Brown,professor of English and noted Harlem Renaissance poet.

Enrollment at Howard University increased from 2,000 in 1926,to more than 10,000 in 1960.After 34 years of  service and bringing the university into national prominence,Mordecai retired from the presidency of Holward University in 1960.

Mordecai was an annual speaker for the Education Night at the National Baptist Convention,a speaker at the Ford Hall Forum in Boston,ans spoke alongside Dr.Martin Luther King Jr.and others at the 1957 Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom.He traveled 25,000 miles a year throughout the country speaking principally on topics such as racism,segregation,and discrimination.In 1951 he was a member of the American delegation to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) that met in London.

He died in Washington,D.C.