The vast scope and illuminating
complexity of Judge Johnson's papers mirror
his long and stormy career as a federal
judge in Alabama, which extended from
his appointment as the nation's youngest
federal district judge in 1955 until he
took senior status as a federal circuit
judge in 1991. Judge Johnson became the
central figure in an increasingly larger
social and political universe, as he sustained
the claims of black Southerners to their
civil rights on many famous fronts, such
as the Montgomery bus boycott and the
Selma march, and issued a wide range of
precedent-setting decisions to extend
constitutional protections to women, the
poor, prison inmates, and patients in
mental institutions. His collection of
approximately 116,000 items also illustrates
the meticulousness and speed which characterized
his chambers, and varied materials demonstrate
his attention to procedural and administrative
as well as substantive and doctrinal matters
that emerged during his long service.
