Odessa Johnson, a longtime educator in California, passed away on April 21. She was 86 years old.
A native of Greenville, South Carolina, Johnson earned her bachelor’s degree from Tennessee State University and her master’s degree from Columbia University. In 1963, she moved to Modesto, California, where she became the first African American teacher at Modesto High School.
In 1970, Johnson was hired as a counselor at Modesto Junior College, where she was the only African American on staff. She went on to found the Modesto Institute for Continued Learning, which provided working adults with access to higher education. Later in life, Johnson served on the school board for Modesto City Schools and served as a regent for the University of California. As regent, she advocated for establishing a medical school at the University of California, Merced.
Earlier this year, Modesto Junior College presented Johnson with the Martin Luther King Jr. Legacy Award for her contributions to education.
