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Biography

Dan Johnson was bused an hour and a half to elementary and middle school in Milwaukee. He was not able to participate in sports or allowed to go outside in his neighborhood. He and his brother developed their imaginations and their abilities to find something to do. They strove to get involved at first in their church then in college and finally in the community. He now holds a doctorate degree in Educational Leadership. A Dubuque High School Counselor, speaker, mentor, and role model, Dr. Johnson consistently works for the youth of Dubuque to make it possible for their lives to be better and their dreams to come true.

Transcript

Darien James: Please state your name and spell it.

Daniel Johnson: My name is Dan Johnson. You want full name?

Darien James: Yeah.

Daniel Johnson: My name is Daniel Jefferson Johnson. Daniel spelled the common way,
Jefferson like the school across town, and Johnson the common spelling.

Darien James: Where were you born and raised?

Daniel Johnson: I was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Darien James: What brought you to Dubuque?

Daniel Johnson : (whispers) A job. A job. Actually this is my second time through. So both times I think I was called to be here.

Darien James: Where did you go to elementary school?

Daniel Johnson: Well, growing up in Milwaukee in the 70’s I went to three different elementary schools. The first school I went to was a neighborhood school which was called 20th Street school and now it is called Harriett Tubman Elementary school. And then integration occurred. And they bussed me from the neighborhood school which is three blocks from my house. I had to take an hour and a half bus ride to the south side of town. And that’s the school, that’s one of the schools I ended up going to. It was called Morgan Gale. And I akin that experience to, you know the show, Everybody Hates Schools? And when our priest talks about he was transferred to the school where he was supposed to get a better education? Well, I was smarter than anybody in my class. So everybody else, I’d be in third grade, everybody else was in level five reading. I was on level ten, in a reading group by myself. So, I felt a little bit like I wasn’t like anybody, that experience that I felt like everybody knows tricks .

Darien James: What about middle school, high school, and college?

Daniel Johnson: Again I was bussed out. Again part of the integration process, I was bussed out to Scholl’s Middle School. And then, because I signed up for a special computer education program at my high school, which at the time was number one in the nation, for computer education. I was able to go to my neighborhood school again. If I had not done that, they would have kept bussing me out. And I would have a bus ride to the school on the south side to enhance the racial balance of the schools in the city of Milwuakee.

Darien James: How long have you lived in Iowa?

Daniel Johnson: Excuse Me?

Darien James: How long have you lived in Iowa?

Daniel Johnson: This is my second time through Iowa. The first time I was here for six years. I worked at Loras College. And this time let’s just say…..this is my seventh year.

Darien James: You want to talk about your family?

Daniel Johnson: Yes I’ll talk about my family. What do you want to know?

Darien James: Do you have family here?

Daniel Johnson: Other than my wife and kids no. Ah my son-in law. My family lives in Milwaukee…most of my family lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I have got a step brother who lives in Florida, ah Minnesota, a step sister who lives in South Carolina. But my primary family lives in my…still lives in Milwaukee.

Darien James: What is your impression of Iowa?

Daniel Johnson: Excuse me?

Darien James: What is your impression of Iowa?

Daniel Johnson: I think Iowa is a good place. I think that Dubuque is a good place. It has it’s challenges just like living somewhere else. For those who come here, it can said, it’s a great place to make a change and to start a new life, if they take advantage of the opportunity right here.

Darien James: What did you do for entertainment when you were young?

Daniel Johnson: What ages are you talking about?

Darien James: Like middle school.

Daniel Johnson: Middle School? Middle school, I was fortunate enough to…to belong to a church that kept us ever involved. Really especially for middle school, my church family, my friend from church, my youth group that I hung out with, we did do a lot of things together. And so, we- I didn’t hang out from a lot of kids from school, again I was bussed. Didn’t necessarily like that experience as it was a bit of a challenge. Again going to school with different kids, even the kids who were bussed out there with me who looked like me, I still felt a little different. But I hung out with my church family quite a bit. We used to socialize together. My cousins…I think in middle school I had some cousins who lived right around the corner. We were still hanging out a little bit. But other than that, my brother is my best friend. My brother and I are very very tight.

Darien James: What professional experience and positions have you had?

Daniel Johnson: You want my resume? (Laughter) Well I’ve been a paraprofessional in a school like this. I did this in Minnesota for a little bit at an alternative school and that was a great experience. I’ve been a hall director at a college. I’ve been over the Greek system at a college. Director of Multi-cultural student services at a college. I’ve been an Assistant Dean of Students at a college. I’ve also been a college coach.

Darien James: Were you the first African American in that position?

Daniel Johnson: As an Assistant Dean of Students at the College where I work? No, no I don’t think so. I think I might…I think I was the first African American Administrator at the high school level. I think….I try not to keep track of stuff like that. When you start doing stuff like that you can become overwhelmed. I just focus on trying to do a good job and being the best professor that I can be. Help kids change their lives.

Darien James: How has the Civil Rights [Movement] affected you?

Daniel Johnson: I think it has affected me greatly. It has given me the opportunities that I have right now. And again, if I go back to…If I go back to my middle school experience I will tell you that it was challenging. I meaning them bussing me out there as challenging as it was, I understand what they were trying to do. They were trying to give me a better education so I could have a better life for myself. You keep learning that that was not without its bumps and bruises. One of the things that I remember greatly, and this was part of the civil rights movement you know as I was bussed out there they were trying to create opportunities for us to get involved. I did not participate in any after school activities. No sports, nothing like that. There was an incident where I stayed after one day, hanging out at the bus stop. And me and the group of young African American men I was hanging with, we were threatened by some high school boys driving around waving bats. And that was it for me…that was it for me for staying after school. However, going to the high school that I went to having the great wrestling coach that I had, Mr. Robert Sacuse, he…you know, though I was going to a school that was 85% black, and I participated in wrestling, he was one of those individuals that believe that you had to get out and have some experience with people who were different than you. So here we are, this team mostly minority students, wrestlers were traveling out and about. Outside of the city of Milwaukee going to the suburbs going way north, three hours north of Wisconsin to go and wrestle. That was a great experience. Again cause many of those kids, ain’t never been around black kids before. We were going up there and they showing us what it was like, you know, showing us what it was like to work on the farms. We all practiced together, doing those things. I sit here in those days…again if it had not been for the civil rights movement; those things like that people may not have had the courage to push me and those of my other friends to have that experience.

Darien James: (cough) And what organizations have you been involved with and why?

Daniel Johnson: What organizations? In college I was involved in the black student union. And then my church organization growing up. If you taking about organizations like some of the more community organizations? I don’t do that as much. I’m more of a grass roots type of person, doing things like that. My church group was the group that I belonged to. We did a lot of things in the community. Trying to help people improve their lives. And again looking back my life wasn’t all that great and I’m trying to help everybody else! But I think you…you when you are fortunate…when you think you are fortunate you at least try to help other people improve.

Darien James: What…Why did you choose to get involved with the church organization?

Daniel Johnson: Well the church organization? I didn’t have a choice. My mother made me go to church. Initially. As you are young….actually I did have a choice I didn’t go to the church because my mother did. I went to the church number one, cause my aunt asked me to go. I got involved because those things seemed like fun. As I told you before, most of my friends at middle school were people from my church. And we were looking at having something to do. That’s what we did…that’s what I did. I hung out with them. Doing whatever they asked us to do. I had a very strict mom. A single parent. I was not allowed to go outside. So my social experience was hanging out with people of church. They were ok.

Darien James: Why did you get involved? Who were your connections?

Daniel Johnson: My connections – where? Or with what?

Darien James: Like the gig….like the…the group.

Daniel Johnson: Black student union group? By that time….By that time…you mean my
college experience?

Darien James: Um-hmm.

Daniel Johnson: By that time I was very much thinking for myself. Again it was a sense of duty. There was a need on campus to bring students together to provide opportunities for fun. Yes and what did I do for fun? Again since me and my brother were very tight and weren’t allowed to go outside, we learned how to create foreign opportunities for ourselves. When I got into the college and we had some students on campus saying, “Man there is nothing to do.” What you guys talking about there is a ton of stuff to do! And then we would create you know activities, whatever it may be. I still have my college friends now. They will call me and as soon as they,…they never say hello when I answer the phone. They always make some quote from one night that we hung out on Friday night and I know exactly who it is, by what they say. You know and the same thing when I call them. If they answer the phone I don’t say their name. I just start quoting something from one of our experiences, and we start laughing. But again we create our…we created our own fun. We had to. One of the things that I learned is-if you say you’re bored that means you are boring.

Darien James: What were you doing to get involved before?

Daniel Johnson: Ah….What did I do to get involved before? I’m not sure. I’m not sure. I mean for me it was always a feeling of having to doing something. My grandfather…my grandfather was one of those individuals who…who believed you just don’t sit around, that you had to do something. My church instilled in me you know that you need to give back, you need to give back…you need to be doing something. So to my grandfather always preaching to, and then my church instilling every job for me at home. Whatever….If there is nothing to do my wife makes fun of me. She says “You’ll always be busy. You always have been. Even in your free…when you think you have free time, you find something to do.” Whether that’s something formal, where I got to go to a meeting, supervise a game, go and open up a building, do something like that, or if I just go to the store and start talking to the young brothers working there. I always find something to do.

Darien James: How does your family feel about your being involved?

Daniel Johnson: My wife? How does my wife feel….my wife and kids feel about my getting involved? They expect me to be gone all the time. I mean they don’t know anything else. They really don’t. I mean that’s, again…That’s what Daddy does. Daddy’s always going to work. There is no animosity. They just know that’s what Daddy does. My wife knows that’s what…man, that’s what you do. You like to help people. You like to stay involved.

Darien James: What leadership experiences did you have in college?

Daniel Johnson: Oh, I’ve had several leadership experiences when I was in college. I was the captain of the wrestling team. I was a resident assistant for three years there. That’s when you’re in charge of a floor of students; you’ve got to plan activities for them. Do some discipline. Disciplining your peers can be kind of challenging. I was sergeant at arms of the black student union, vice president and president another year. I was involved in the admissions office. Actually I was the prototype for the student ambassador program that they are actually running right now, where they use students to help recruit students to the school. The first year that I started doing that, they asked me did I want to do help out because I was complaining about the low number of minorities on campus. So they said, “Well do you want to do something about it? Do something about it.” “What do you need me to do? What do you need me to do?” “Talk to some kids.” “I can get some kids up here.” And so they just had me working in the office stuffing envelopes. Then next fall after I did an internship in the summer, they allowed me to go to visit some schools. They flew me down to Chicago, flew me down to Milwaukee. Got to talk with some students, and got to do some phone calling later, the next fall our numbers had tripled.

Darien James: What were others doing at your age to be involved?

Daniel Johnson: Excuse me?

Darien James: What were others at your age doing to be involved?

Daniel Johnson: At the collegiate level I was working with students, again encouraging them to
get involved. I mean, often times we would talk about what we are going to do when we grow up. You can get involved now. When I was in…again, those schools or church where, that I attended, I wasn’t as vocal. But in high school I was pretty vocal. I would tell the kids you ought to come out for wrestling; you ought to come out for football. You need to do something. The same thing when I was in college. You ought to go out for something. I would encourage kids to come out for…go out for being a resident assistant. Or encourage kids to go out and enjoy some activity. Hey you know what? We don’t have a black history program. Let’s put something together. I know you, I said, I know you’ve been involved in theater. I’m talking about my friend, Mike Johnson. He was involved; he was one of the kids I recruited, when I was up there. I’m like, “You know what?” I said, “You were involved with theatre in high school and we need to put something together.” And we ended up doing, ended up putting on a black history program. It was actually pretty slick because he wrote the play and then the students acted it out. They all put it together nicely. Even now…you know even now where I work, the first day in here, some young men in this room (cough), I will ask, “What are you involved in? You need to get involved in something! What do you like to do? So I know some people have heard me say that, Isn’t that right, brother? So let me answer your question again, if you talk about being successful in life, you know, you just can’t get...I’m going to school going to do whatever. Then once you graduate think someone is going to hire you. What have you learned along the way that is going to contribute to the organization or company that you are going to work for. You need to work on some skills. Right now is that opportunity to build those skills. But whether kids realize or not, everything that you do, everything you do right now, contributes to your success later on. You’re not working on those skills, whether it’s you sitting here learning how to interview someone, so that by the time you are 20 years old you are a pretty darn good interviewer. You know what questions to ask when they get off the page, when they come back. This is….Right now you are practicing for something you could be doing for professionally later on.

Darien James: What are some of your biggest accomplishments?

Daniel Johnson: My biggest accomplishment probably is being a good husband and a good father. For me I would say that is my biggest accomplishment. Right now for personal, that’s my biggest accomplishment. Other than that if you are looking as some other things that people tend to look at as an accomplishment, I will grad…I will walk through my graduation ceremony for my doctoral degree May 17th. I will do my defense of my dissertation here at the end of May. That’s probably the most challenging accomplishment that I’ve had, because I don’t like school.

Darien James: What was your happiest or saddest memory?

Daniel Johnson: Ummm, I don’t know. I don’t know. I really don’t dwell on sad memories too much. If something bad happens other than getting through the initial grieving part, I look at it… what can I learn from it? It happened for a reason. What can I learn from it? So even though it may have been a sad time, I look at it as something that can help me improve.

Darien James: If you could change any experience in the committee what would it be?

Daniel Johnson: In this community? I’m not sure. Right now if I could change things to how I want them to be there is no fun in that. There is no growth in that, quite honestly.

Darien James: What would you change about your past?

Daniel Johnson: Well, I like to say, I wish I had tried a little harder in some of my athletics. I wish I’d like to say…I wish I could say something like that. But….If I changed…If I had changed anything, I might not be in this place. And I tend to believe this is where I was supposed to be.

Darien James: What are your plans for the future?

Daniel Johnson: To continue doing what I think I been called to do. To help students improve their lives. Help them achieve their dreams, be more than what they thought they could be.

Darien James: In 20 years when people talk about Dan Johnson, what is one thing you want them to remember?

Daniel Johnson: That he cared; that he helped; he was all right.

Darien James: Thank you, professor.

Daniel Johnson – Thank you!