Lenwood Johnson

Johnson originated from a rural area near Brenham, where his father worked as a sharecropper, He intended to go to St. Mary's College in San Antonio but instead majored in physics at Prairie View A&M University when his family lost their land value because of flooding and drought. Johnson attended for three years but dropped out because he was fired from a work-study program for protesting its conditions and therefore could no longer afford to attend. He moved to Houston in the 1970s, and worked as a research technician in a laboratory. Johnson became a single parent after he and his wife divorced. He had developed illnesses in the course of his work, and was no longer able to work as a research technician. He had little money as he, along with his son, moved to APV in 1980. ==Activism==

From the beginning, In 1983, and he stated his opposition to political and business leaders seeking to raze APV. A former spokesperson for the HACH, Esther De Ipolyi, stated that the agency was surprised about the resistance it was facing against the demolition, and that "Lenwood's very effective. He's one lone ranger who essentially stopped the process." Johnson went into conflict with two HACH heads, Earl Phillips, He later moved into a rental unit operated by a private party. After the end of the APV conflict, Johnson sought to preserve the bricks used on the roads of the Fourth Ward, which had been made by newly-freed slaves, as well as the Fourth Ward in general. In November 2010 members of the Gregory Library Watch, a group started in January 2010, accused the Gregory African-American Library in the Fourth Ward of deliberately not archiving certain historical documents. Lenwood Johnson, now a member of the organization, stated that the library refused to archive documents about an effort to prevent the closing of the Allen Parkway Village. Johnson worked with activist Timothy O'Brien in his efforts to preserve the Fourth Ward. Johnson also criticized Mayor of Houston Annise Parker for seeking to preserve the original Rufus Cage Elementary School in the Eastwood while not doing enough to preserve the Fourth Ward. ==Death==

From September 2017 to the end of his life, Johnson lived with a friend. Johnson developed respiratory problems and, when experiencing breathing issues, was taken to St. Joseph Medical Center in Downtown Houston on the evening of May 10, 2018. He died that month, at age 75. His funeral was to be held in Brenham. ==See also==