Hidden Bibliographic Details
Varying Form of Title: | History Makers video oral history with Charles Johnson Charles Johnson
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Other authors / contributors: | Johnson, Charles, 1909-2006, interviewee.
Crowe, Larry F., interviewer.
Stearns, Scott, director of photography.
HistoryMakers (Video oral history collection), production company.
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Sound characteristics: | digital
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Digital file characteristics: | video file
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Notes: | Videographer, Scott Stearns. Larry Crowe, interviewer. Recorded Chicago, Illinois 2003 January 13. Vendor-supplied metadata.
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Summary: | Union leader and baseball player Charles Johnson was born on August 7, 1909 in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Johnson moved several times between Arkansas and the Midwest before settling in Chicago in 1925. After his mother died when he was fifteen, he supported himself. On Chicago's South side, he became acquainted with Negro League baseball player Ted "Double-Duty" Radcliffe. Johnson went on his first baseball barnstorming tour in 1930 and later became a pitcher and outfielder for the famed Chicago American Giants. He gave up traveling when he married in 1942 and quit baseball for good in 1944. He worked at Illinois Central Railroad where he helped his union force the railroad to end its discriminatory employment practices. After retiring in 1974, Johnson spearheaded the efforts of 140 former Negro Leaguers, like himself, who were denied access to a pension fund established for veterans of the Negro Leagues. Johnson passed away on June 19, 2006 at age 96.
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