Francys Johnson

Francys Johnson is a native of Sylvania, Georgia. A civil rights advocate, pastor and educator, he currently serves as the NAACP Southeast Region Director. The Southeast Region is the largest region within the NAACP. Prior to that appointment, Dr. Johnson served on the faculty of Savannah State University. Professor Johnson's course lectures on race and the law, constitutional and criminal law. He served as Legal Redress Director for the Georgia State Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). During his tenure, the Georgia State Conference NAACP fought successfully during the 2006 midterm elections to prevent Republican-supported voter identification legislation from being implemented. Conservative lawmakers said it was needed to limit elections fraud. Liberal lawmakers said that argument was a smokescreen masking another intent: to maintain Republican power in the state by diluting the minority vote, which typically goes to Democrats.

As regional director, Johnson led a resurgence of the Association's legal and political prowess in the deep South by focusing on establishing "Citizen Review Boards" to counter increasing incidents of police brutality in Georgia, Tennessee and Florida; monitor aging desegregation orders in Mississippi and Alabama and mobilizing local and regional support to thwart regression of affirmative action as experienced in California and Michigan. After the resignation of the President and CEO Bruce S. Gordon, the NAACP announced on June 1, 2007 that the regional offices of the NAACP would close in a restructuring effort to boost the efficiency and capacity of the state conferences within the region.

Other persons who have served as the southeast regional director include Mrs. Ruby Hurley (1952 - 1978), Mr. Earl T. Shinhoster (1978 - 1994), the Rev. Nelson B. Rivers, III. (1994 - 1999), and the Rev. Charles L. White, Jr.(1999 - 2006).

Johnson is member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. Johnson earned a law degree from the University of Georgia. Johnson has also served on the faculty of Georgia Southern University in Statesboro. Reverend Johnson is the ninth pastor of Mount Moriah Baptist Church in Pembroke, Georgia. He is married to Meca Renee Williams, Ph.D. and they have one son, Thurgood Joshua.

References

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People www.naacp.org

National Council for Black Studies annual conference, March 2005 Johnson chaired a round table discussion on "Quality Education as Civil Rights" between educationalists from Dillard University, the Algebra Project and the University of New Orleans.

Savannah State University, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences

National Black Law Association 2002-2003, Southern Regional Director and National Chaplain.