John N. Johnson

The plaque names Perry Cavitt but not what happened to him. Cavitt was convicted of murder in Brazos County, and Johnson objected that no Black jurors had been seated, arguing under the Fourteenth Amendment. The appeals court rejected the argument. Cavitt was sentenced to hang on May 9, 1884, but Governor John Ireland commuted the sentence to life imprisonment on April 29. Governor Samuel Lanham pardoned him in December 1906, after twenty-three years. Johnson did not live to see it; he had died in March.

What the plaque says

John N. Johnson Born in Montgomery County, Maryland, around 1853 to Stephen, a preacher, and Delia, a laundress, John N. Johnson was an early African American attorney and civil rights activist. When he was a child, his father was murdered. He and his mother then moved to Washington, D.C. After Johnson graduated from high school, he styled himself "Professor John N. Johnson" and began teaching. In 1876, Johnson married Virginian Cornelia Coe. Shortly after, their son, John, was born. The young family moved to Texas by 1879. Johnson continued teaching in Limestone, Robertson and Brazos counties. He began advocating on behalf of the black population. In 1879, Johnson briefly considered joining the "Exodusters," black citizens migrating to Kansas to escape race-based horrors of the post-Reconstruction era, but he ultimately stayed in Texas. Wishing to advance his advocacy, Johnson originally planned to become a journalist, but abandoned that plan in favor of studying the law. After being twice denied by the District Court of Bryan, Johnson was admitted to practice law in Oct. 1882. There were about 12 practicing black lawyers in Texas at the time. In February the next year, he was the first African American admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of Texas. He sought to use his legal prowess to fight racial injustices. In August 1883, Johnson filed six lawsuits in Brazos County against the Houston & Texas Central Railway for charging African Americans full price tickets while relegating them to sub-par accommodations. Johnson ultimately lost these lawsuits. At the same time, Johnson served as defense counsel in the case Perry Cavitt v. State of Texas. Johnson remained politically active, sometimes serving as Chairman of the Brazos County Republican Convention. Johnson returned to Washington, D.C. around 1891 and worked as a pension office clerk until his death on March 13, 1906. The Washington Bee remembered Johnson as "a great advocate of justice and right." (2021)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• George H.W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum — 5.5 mi
  The library of the forty-first president on the Texas A&M campus, opened in 1997, where George and Barbara Bush and their daughter Robin are buried in a family plot on the grounds.
• Independence and Old Baylor Park — 25 mi
  A crossroads north of Brenham that was the richest town in Texas when it won Baylor University in 1845, refused the railroad, and lost the college to Waco and Belton in 1886.
• Navasota — 26 mi
  A railroad and cotton town where the La Bahia Road crossed the Navasota River, scarred by an 1865 explosion and yellow fever, and the home ground of the songster Mance Lipscomb.
• Fanthorp Inn State Historic Site — 27 mi
  A cedar-log dogtrot cabin of 1834 on the road through Anderson that grew into a seventeen-room inn and post office for travelers of the Republic, kept by one family until 1976.

More markers nearby

• Brazos County — steps away
• Harvey Mitchell — steps away
• Town Named for William Joel Bryan — steps away
• Brazos County Confederate Commissioners Court — steps away