JOHNSON, JOSEPH MORGAN, 1928- .
Political cartoons, 1963-1975.
MANUSCRIPT COLLECTION 031
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REPRODUCTION: All requests subject to limitations noted in departmental policies on reproduction.
COPYRIGHT: Information on copyright (literary rights) available from repository.
CITATION: Joseph Morgan Johnson Political cartoons, MSS 031, Archives
and Manuscripts Dept., Pitts Theology Library, Emory University.
Cartoonist and Methodist Missionary Joseph Morgan Johnson was born in Georgia on 19 December 1928. In order to pursue his interest in art he enrolled in the University of Georgia and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in drawing and painting in 1948. The following year Johnson entered the Candler School of Theology at Emory University. In 1951 he received a Bachelor of Divinity degree and was ordained into the Methodist Church. Leaving Georgia that year, he went to New York University to work on a Masters Degree in Art Teaching. After completing his degree in 1952, Johnson faced a difficult decision. Having been raised in a pacifist home and adhering to pacifist principles, Johnson sought an alternative to military service during the Korean War. He chose instead to combine his artistic and theological training and to go to Africa as a missionary teacher for the Methodist Church in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) until 1954.
After leaving Africa Johnson returned to Georgia. In 1957 he married Rosalie Voigt of Macon, Georgia and taught at Druid Hills High School. In 1961 the Johnsons returned to Rhodesia where Joseph taught at Mutambara, Hartzell and Nyadiri Teachers' College until 1974.
While in Rhodesia, Johnson served as cartoonist and illustrator for Umbowo, a newspaper published by the Rhodesian Annual Conference of the Methodist Church. During that time he was charged with sedition in regard to a cartoon he drew about a resettlement camp. Johnson writes, "After a series of appearances in court, the State withdrew its charges and the court declared me therefore innocent of the charges. "After this I was declared a prohibited immigrant by the Immigration Ministry of Rhodesia and was thus deported". Johnson went from Rhodesia to Zambia in 1976 but returned to Zimbabwe in 1983. While there, Johnson taught art at Hartzell High School, was on the staff of the Old Mutare Methodist Church and served as the archivist of the United Methodist Church of Zimbabwe. Joseph and Caroline Johnson have five children, Linda Caroline, Mary Vaughan, Michael Emmet,Lawrence Tandai, and Morgan Chido.
Johnson and his wife, Rosalie, left Zimbabwe in March, 1991 for Atlanta, Ga.. In September of 1991, they began their current appointment as the mission interpreters for the Southeast Jurisdiction.
The collection consists of 53 political cartoons from Umbowo, the Rhodesian Methodist Newspaper for which Joseph Morgan Johnson is a cartoonist. His cartoons are clearly anti government dealing with such topics as: politics, education, hunger, the Rhodesian independence Movement, and the banning of a Methodist minister from the county. Included is a blank clipping from April 1967 in which Johnson's cartoon was censored.
Container List Box/Folder # 1/1 I. Cartoons from UMBOWO, 1963-1964 A. Cartoon from November, 1963. B. First Cartoon drawn for UMBOWO. 1964. Also copy of a engraved cover for the old UMBOWO. 1/2 II. Cartoons from UMBOWO, 1965. A. "Please see that I'm almost finished. I cannot do more!" July, 1965. B. Two cartoons from September, 1965. C. Caricatures of Mr. Harold Wilson, British Prime Minister, and Mr. Ian Smith, Rhodesian Prime Minister October, 1965. 1/3 III. Cartoons from UMBOWO, 1966. A. Commonwealth Leaders Meet in London September, 1966. B. "Hark! Hark! The dogs do bark" But where's the bite? Vol. 49, No. 9 (October, 1966). C. It's Not The Six Principles It's The Speed! Vol. 49, No. 10 (November, 1966). D. Tick, Tick, Tick..." December, 1966/January, 1967. 1/4 IV. Cartoons from UMBOWO, 1967. A. Smith in Mood To Declare Rhodesia A Republic Vol. 50, No. 11-12 (December, 1966-January 1967). B. Are Sanctions Biting? Vol. 50, No. 3 (March, 1967) C. "All material in this newspaper has been subject to Government Censorship." Blank clipping in which Johnson's cartoon was censored. Vol. 50, No. 4 (April, 1967). D. "Why Can't We Live Together!" Vol. 50 (August, 1967). E. Detroit .... Hanoi. September, 1967. F. Kaunda Bitter With Britain Over Rhodesia Vol. 50, No. 10 (October, 1967) G. Line-Up On African Leaders In The News. October, 1967 1/5 V. Cartoons from UMBOWO, 1968. A. Okapi. February, 1968 B. All I Said was "Bantustan". How is that different from "Separate Development"?. February, 1968. C. Report of the Constitutional Commission, 1968, par. 46. May, 1968 D. Mwazvitta, Changamire... Ko? Mari yechikoro?... 1. June, 1968. 2. Vol. 51, No.12 (December, 1968). E. There Is Still A Gap November, 1968. F. Brother, according to this map that star is farther away than we figured! December, 1968. G. James Bottomley, 1968: Is The Tale Still the Tiger's? 1968. 1/6 VI. Cartoons from UMBOWO, 1969. A. What's in it for us? January, 1969. B. Go Forward Together. June, 1969. C. The Prime Minister explained that in the new teaching hospital patients could choose the race and sex of medical students assigned to them. September, 1969. D. Nyika yedu iripiko?. Vol. 52, No. 10 (October, 1969). 1/7 VII. Cartoons from UMBOWO, 1970. A. "Kufa Kuri Nani!". April, 1970. B. To Keep the Balance of Power?. April, 1970. C. The team at work.... June, 1970. D. Matthew 5:11. October, 1970. 1/8 VIII. Cartoons from UMBOWO, 1971. A. Salary Differences... August, 1971 1/9 IX. Cartoons from UMBOWO, 1972. A. I don't see how you fellas expect me to get a "yes" out of this!. April, 1972. B. ANC for Dialogue. August, 1972. C. Brother, according to this map that star is farther away than we figured!. December, 1972. 1/10 X. Cartoons from UMBOWO, 1973. A. TTL ban - Youths. January, 1973. B. We know how to punish the tribesmen - but how do we handle the midzimu? February, 1972. C. Norman Thomas, B.A., B.D. (Yale), Ph.D. (Boston), P.I. (Rhodesia). April, 1973 D. Forward Rhodesia. Vol. 56, No. 12 (December, 1973). 1/11 XI. Cartoons from UMBOWO, 1975. A. Smith repeats: No Black rule in Rhodesia. Vol. 58, No. 9 (September, 1975). 1/12 XII. Cartoons from UMBOWO with no date. A. ANC for Dialogue B. Brother, according to this map that star is farther away than we figured! C. Separate Development (A sketch submitted to the censor during censorship after U.D.I.. D. Drawing from old UMBOWO scratchboard. XII. Oversize cartoons in Bottom of box. A. Caricatures of Mr. Harold Wilson, British Prime Minister, and Mr. Ian Smith, Rhodesian Prime Minister Vol. 48, No. 8 (October, 1965). B. "Don't Plant Tobacco... Plant Wheat". Vol. 49, No. 1 (January/ February, 1966). C. "Hark! Hark! The dogs do bark" But where's the bite?. Vol. 49, No. 9 (October, 1966). D. UMBOWO Records Rhodesian UDI History in Cartoons. May, 1968. 50th Anniversary Supplement. E. "The World is my Parish". Vol. 55, No. 10 (October, 1972) F. Resettlement Camps - Are They Part of the Campaign? (Offending cartoon used in court as exhibit 2).