Johns, Vernon (1892-1965), was an American minister and civil rights activist. He served as pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, from 1948 to 1952. As pastor, Johns spoke out on racial issues and urged members of his congregation to stand up for their rights. Johns helped lead the way for later activists, including Martin Luther King, Jr., who succeeded him as pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church.
Johns was born on April 22, 1892, in Prince Edward County, Virginia. He graduated from the Oberlin Theological Seminary in 1918. After continuing his studies at the University of Chicago, Johns began work as a farmer and preacher. During his time at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, he strongly opposed segregation and argued that members of his congregation had failed to take action. After he left the church, Johns continued to speak out against racism throughout the southern and eastern United States. Johns died on June 10, 1965.
For many years, Johns’s contributions to the civil rights movement went largely unrecognized. The American historian Taylor Branch, author of Parting the Waters (1988), was one of the earliest scholars to credit Johns as a forerunner of the movement. Today, many people call Johns the “father of the civil rights movement.”
