{"id":13334,"date":"2015-05-05T08:00:33","date_gmt":"2015-05-05T12:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/?p=13334"},"modified":"2015-05-05T08:00:33","modified_gmt":"2015-05-05T12:00:33","slug":"kimberly-p-johnson-m-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/kimberly-p-johnson-m-10\/","title":{"rendered":"Kimberly P. Johnson M \u201910"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"friendshipprogram1115_003.JPG\"<\/a>
\nJohnson pictured with members of the Friendship 9. From left, civil rights activist David Boone, who took part
\nin 1960s sit-ins, and Friendship 9 members Clarence Graham, James Well, Willie McCleod and W.T. \u201cDub\u201d Massey.\u00a0CHARLOTTE OBSERVER<\/p>\n

Righting History<\/h3>\n

In 1961, nine young African-American college students were arrested for sitting at a whites-only lunch counter at McCrory\u2019s Five & Dime in Rock Hill. Instead of posting bail, they became the first sit-in participants to insist on doing jail time \u2014 30 days hard labor \u2014 that served as a model for future sit-ins and protests.
\nFor 54 years, historians have credited the men \u2014 known as the Friendship 9 \u2014 for actions that revived the civil rights movement. But their story was little known outside Rock Hill residents or civil rights scholars.
\nUntil they met Kimberly Johnson.
\nJohnson, a graduate of Clemson\u2019s youth development leadership program, is an award-winning children\u2019s author living in nearby York who met the Friendship 9 by chance at the same McCrory\u2019s Five & Dime in 2011. After her conversation with them, she knew it was a story to be shared.
\nShe released her 17th<\/sup> title, No Fear for Freedom: The Story of the Friendship 9<\/em> \u2014 a children\u2019s book \u2014 in 2014. The book received a wonderful reception locally, but Johnson was restless to do more, inspired by her research on the Friendship 9 and the civil rights movement as a whole.
\nMoved in particular by Martin Luther King Jr.\u2019s Letter from Birmingham Jail, which emphasized the creation of unjust laws, she approached the Rock Hill-area solicitor to see if the Friendship 9\u2019s convictions could be overturned.
\nOn January 28, 2015, in a packed courthouse and the eyes of the nation on them, the solicitor presented their case \u2014 and a judge threw out their convictions.
\n\u201cThere is always something that we can do to make things better,\u201d said Johnson. \u201cThis case, in a small way, has opened the door for bigger conversations about race and diversity \u2014 it also sends a message to children and adults alike that justice is possible.\u201d
\nJohnson says that message was reinforced during her time in Clemson\u2019s youth development leadership program. \u201cThe program helped me understand that we are all change agents and that we can make a difference, starting with our own communities,\u201d she said. \u201cIn that process, we can even begin to change the world!\u201d
\nMore information about the Friendship 9:<\/p>\n

New York Times: South Carolina Court clears Friendship Nine in 1961 Sit-in (includes video of court appearance)<\/a>
\n\u00a0New York Times:\u00a0Decades After Sit-in, South Carolina Seeks to Make Things Right<\/a>
\nFor more information about Johnson’s\u00a0work with the Friendship 9 go to www.simplycreativeworks.com\/<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Johnson pictured with members of the Friendship 9. From left, civil rights activist David Boone, who took part in 1960s sit-ins, and Friendship 9 members Clarence Graham, James Well, Willie McCleod and W.T. \u201cDub\u201d Massey.\u00a0CHARLOTTE OBSERVER Righting History In 1961, nine young African-American college students were arrested for sitting at a whites-only lunch counter at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":13504,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[21],"tags":[730,1326,1733,2443,2692],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-13334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumniprofiles","tag-clemson-youth-development-program","tag-friendship-9","tag-kimberly-p-johnson-m-10","tag-rock-hill","tag-spring-2015"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/04\/Kim-Johnson_FRIENDSHIP-NINE.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13334"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13334\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13334"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=13334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}