On Monday and Tuesday, March 8th and 9th, Freed-Hardeman will host Deb Cleveland and Dr. Aaron Johnson, coauthors of Man from Macedonia: My Life of Service, Struggle, Faith and Hope. The book is a retelling of stories on the intense racial climate of the mid-20th Century that draws upon the communal memories of sit-ins, protests and lynchings. Johnson, a long-time advocate of the civil rights movement, along with Cleveland, author of Hugs from Heaven: Portraits of a Woman’s Faith, unite to relate memories that the nation’s consciousness can no longer ignore.
Johnson, a forerunner of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and a pupil of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., was the first African-American Secretary of Corrections in the state of North Carolina. After the assassination of Dr. King, Johnson was commissioned by North Carolina Governor, Dan Moore, to help ease racial strife and to encourage unity through the pulpit as a Baptist minister. This fight would bring Johnson toe to toe with extremist organizations like the Klu Klux Klan and the Black Panthers. Though he has faced threats to his life—even kidnappings—as a toll for his position in the corrections system, the pressure never kept Dr. Johnson from being a positive example to all types of people.
Johnson inspired Operation Macedonia that later became Operation Starting Line—a collaborative effort that combines the power of Prison Fellowship, Angel Tree and Justice Fellowship: three spiritual programs started by penitent prisoners. In the fall of 1992, Johnson introduced these influences into his state’s prisons. Remnants of Johnson’s leadership in the North Carolina prison system are still evident today. More than 700,000 inmates have been reached through Charles Colson’s Prison Fellowship since 1977.
During the ensuing weeks, Cleveland and Johnson will be making four stops to promote this new book. Along with Lipscomb University in Nashville and Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas, Cleveland is proud to make an appearance at her alma mater—Freed-Hardeman. During their two-day visit, Cleveland and Johnson will be involved in speaking opportunities in various classes to convey the techniques of writing from such a perspective and the life applications of having seen firsthand some of the things that Dr. Johnson has seen. The FHU Bookstore will have copies of the new book and will be hosting a book signing.
In addition to his presentations during chapel on Monday and Tuesday, Dr. Johnson will lead in a communal remembrance of America’s fierce racial history in his presentation “Where We Are and Where We Have Been.” This presentation will be open to the public and will be held in Ayers Auditorium on Monday evening from 7-7:50 p.m. with a question and answer session to follow.