Name Elijah Johnson Position Point guard Weight 88 kg | Height 1.93 m Role Basketball Player Pro career 2013 | |
College Kansas Jayhawks Men's Basketball Number 15 (Kansas Jayhawks Men's Basketball / Point guard) | ||
Elijah Johnson is a TWO WAY PLAYER - 2018 EBC Seattle Camp Mixtape
Elijah Johnson (c.1789[A] – April 3, 1849) was an African American who was one of the first colonial agents of the American Colonization Society in what later became Liberia. He was probably born in New Jersey, and received some limited schooling in New Jersey and New York. He served as a soldier in the War of 1812 and studied for the Methodist ministry.
Contents
- Elijah Johnson is a TWO WAY PLAYER 2018 EBC Seattle Camp Mixtape
- Early life
- Emigration to Liberia
- Descendants
- References
He had two children out of wedlock, Lewis Johnson (1810 – 1838) and Charles Johnson (born 1812). He later married and had one daughter, Elizabeth (born 1818), with his wife Mary Johnson. After emigrating to the colony of Liberia in 1820, his wife died of fever or malaria. He married again and had several children with his second wife, Rachel Wright. Their son Hilary R. W. Johnson was elected as president of Liberia, the first to have been born in the country.
Early life
Elijah Johnson was of mixed-race ancestry, and was born about 1790 probably in New York. Two of his children who are seldom mentioned are Sarah (b. about 1811), and Elijah Johnson, Junior (born about 1812). Sarah and her brother Elijah were left in an orphanage in Chester County, Pennsylvania in 1816. Their mother was not identified, but their father was recorded as Elijah Johnson. He is known to have moved to Pennsylvania from New York, prior to the War of 1812, in which he served. After the War, he studied at a Methodist school and was ordained as a minister of the Methodist church in northern New York.
Emigration to Liberia
Elijah Johnson was a member of the American Colonization Society, as was his friend Jehudi Ashmun. They traveled to Liberia on the Elizabeth in 1820 along with their wives and children. On March 9, 1820, they landed on Sherbro Island in what is today Sierra Leone.
The early settlers had difficulty with the frontier conditions. Many died of malaria and yellow fever, including Johnson's wife Mary. In 1821, the surviving settlers moved to Providence Island near what is today Monrovia.
There, Johnson married Rachel Wright (born ca. 1798), another American immigrant, with whom he had several additional children. They included Hilary R. W. Johnson, who was elected in 1884 as the eleventh President of Liberia, the first to be born in Africa.
Johnson became the acting colonial agent of the American Colonization Society after the deaths of Eli Ayers, the white first agent, and his black successor Frederick James. He served in this role from June 4, 1822 until August 8, 1822; and again from April 2, 1823 until August 14, 1823. He was replaced by Jehudi Ashmun.
Johnson was appointed as Commissary of Stores and became active in politics. In 1847, he was one of the signers of the Liberian Declaration of Independence. He died in 1849 in White Plains, a missionary station in the interior of Liberia.
Descendants
Many of Elijah's descendants from Liberia now live throughout the United States. His son Hilary R. W. Johnson was the first Liberian/American president.