Raising awareness of poverty and promoting the general welfare of the community
Johnson discusses the living conditions of impoverished African Americans living in Atlanta during the 1940s when she was running the Georgia Conference on Social Welfare. Johnson explains how raising awareness of these kinds of conditions, first for the board and then for the community at large, was central to her task. Her primary goal was to establish community councils that could work for the general welfare of local communities throughout the state.
Citing this Excerpt
Oral History Interview with Guion Griffis Johnson, July 1, 1974. Interview G-0029-4. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) in the Southern Oral History Program Collection, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Full Text of the Excerpt
- GUION JOHNSON:
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As the chairmen of committies on housing, poverty in general and health
would make their reports, they would point out the needs in the
community. Unpaved streets within a block of the capitol, which was a
slum area of the black population. The location of Negro families
scattered in the core sections of the city, where the old families . . .
in Ansley Park for example, on Fifth Street . . . all the old families
have moved from Fifth, but at that time, there were still Negro cabins
in the backyards.
- MARY FREDERICKSON:
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Right behind St. Mark's Methodist Church.
- GUION JOHNSON:
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Yes. That's right. Most of these men were not aware of this. Most of them
lived out in Buckhead, which was the fashionable suburb of Atlanta at
the time. And they were not aware. If they were aware of the unpaved
streets and the tumbledown shacks within a block of the capitol, they
looked the other way. This had nothing to do with them. But when it was
pointed out that a great deal of delinquency came from that area and a
great deal of disease came from that area and was carried out into the
larger community, then they became concerned.
- MARY FREDERICKSON:
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Well, they weren't two-faced, were they?
- GUION JOHNSON:
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No, I don't think that they were. I think that they were simply unaware.
Of course, I think that much of their pious remarks were made with
tongue in cheek. I think that was true, but, no, I think that they
became genuinely aware.
- MARY FREDERICKSON:
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Well, from the rest of your work in the rest of Georgia, was this group
in Atlanta that was available and willing to listen and change their
minds, were they different from other cities in Georgia?
- GUION JOHNSON:
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Of course, I did not know Savannah, or Augusta, or Albany, or Columbus,
or Thomasville as well as I did Atlanta, but we took a group of . . .
a panel to these communities. We always had
excellent response. Sometimes we had a meeting in the courthouse, for
example in Augusta. And [Ray] Harris . . . I have forgotten his first
name, but he was a political leader in that community and at one time I
think that he was speaker of the house. I think when we went to Atlanta,
the legislature had been in session. He had been very outspoken against
an increase in public funds, against matching funds for public welfare
and had been more or less a reactionary leader. At one time he ran for
governor. When we had our big meeting on the importance of the
organization of community forces through the creation of a community
council in Augusta, the courtroom was filled and, as I was speaking, I
saw him come into the courtroom and stand at the back and I was a little
fearful, because I thought that perhaps he would throw me out. After the
meeting, he came up to me and spoke to me and said, "You're the
first blanety-blank woman I've ever heard who could speak loud enough to
be understood in this courtroom. Hereafter, I am going to keep my eye on
you." I said, "I suppose that means that I have your
blessing." He said, "We'll see what that
means." But he was very supportive and even gave us a
contribution for the Georgia Conference on Social Welfare, but he saw to
it that no community council was organized in Augusta.
- MARY FREDERICKSON:
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At that time, your major aim was to get community councils set up.
Johnson: Or at least bring the attentions of a large group of people in
the large towns to an awareness of the needs of the entire community for
the general welfare, for working together to solve the problems. That
was the main purpose, and if we didn't establish community councils . .
. as a matter of fact, we didn't establish even one community council,
but we were using this as a reason for having conferences and as a mode
for the solution of the problem. You see, once you call attention to the
needs of a community, you must point out several different ways that
these needs could be met. So, this was the
modus operandi.