I am writing this for my father who is 91 and not well, and so unable to do so himself.
Forrest Johnson became active when he read about Dr. King being jailed in Albany Georgia in 1962. He and others founded a civil rights group in the Bronx where we lived. He flew down to Albany and met with Dr. King in jail. King sent him out to talk to local white preachers, which was an education to say the least.
Dad also met with Dr. Anderson the local leader of SCLC. He returned to NYC and when the call came from Dr. King a few weeks later to join him in Albany he and other northern and midwestern ministers went down, engaged in a prayer vigil and were arrested by Sherriff Laurie Pritchett. They fasted in jail for 36 hours before being released.
Upon his return to NY, Forrest became even more active in local de-segregation work. I remember him taking me on one particular demonstration in manhattan in front of the Fisher Corporation to protest their discriminatory housing practices. A delegation from Africa was at the U.N at the time and the Fisher Corporation was in charge of finding them housing. They settled quickly with the protestors (Dad found out later) probably because they didn't want scrutiny on that, or any publicity.
He continued to be active in Civil Rights work in the north for some years.
Best Regards on his behalf, Maj-Britt Johnson (Moral Monday activist/arrestee, with Rev. Dr. William Barber. Forward Together!)
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