Executive Bios
- Rev. Nelson Johnson, Executive Director
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Executive Director, Beloved Community Center of Greensboro, Inc.
417 Arlington Street**Greensboro, NC 27406**
(336) 230-0001-office **
(336) 230-2428–fax**
nelsonj@belovedcommunitycenter.org- BS in Political Science, North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro, NC
- Master of Divinity, School of Theology, Virginia Union University, Richmond, VA
Nelson Johnson has been active in the movement for social and economic justice since high school in the late 1950’s. He served as a local and national student leader including Vice President of the SGA at A&T State University, in Greensboro, NC in 1970. Between high school and college Rev. Johnson served four years in the United States Air Force. He continues to work for social and economic justice in Greensboro as Pastor of Faith Community Church and Executive Director of The Beloved Community Center of Greensboro.
Though involved in a myriad of initiatives, Rev. Johnson centers his efforts on facilitating a process of comprehensive community building, which include a convergence of racial and ethnic diversity, social and economic justice, and genuine participatory democracy. At the Beloved Community Center, he and his colleagues attempt to bring together the homeless, the imprisoned, impoverished neighborhoods, and other disenfranchised groups in the spirit of mutual support and community.
Guided by his three-part emphasis of diversity, justice and democracy, Rev. Johnson is actively building relationships with and providing leadership within organized labor, faith groups and other public and private community organizations. He and other local ministers of the Greensboro Pulpit Forum led an active support effort in 1997 that resulted in a significant contract settlement for workers at the Greensboro K-Mart Distribution Center. As a result, he is frequently invited to share that success story at workshops and meetings, including those sponsored by the George Meany Labor Institute, the AFL-CIO of New York, and the Michigan AFL-CIO.
Because of his extensive experience in community organizing and socio-political analysis, Rev. Johnson is routinely invited to speak on university campuses around the country to share his vision of community building. He has written articles for the University of Pennsylvania Journal of Labor and Employment Law and The Witness Magazine, published by the National Episcopal Church. Rev. Johnson is also a former Contributing Editor for the Black Scholar Magazine, National Chair and Contributing Editor for the African World Newspaper, and Assistant Editor for the Carolina Peacemaker of Greensboro, NC.
Rev. Johnson is a native of Halifax County, NC. He received a baccalaureate degree in political science from North Carolina A&T State University and a Master of Divinity Degree from the School of Theology at Virginia Union University. He is married to Joyce Hobson Johnson, a retired research director and School of Business and Economics faculty member at A&T who now works side by side with Johnson at the BCC. The Johnsons have two adult daughters, Akua Johnson-Matherson (John), a university administrator and Ayo Johnson-Townsend (Shane), a registered nurse and certified recreational therapist. Rev. Johnson and Joyce are also the proud grandparents of three granddaughters, Alise, Imani and Nia and one grandson, Nelson Josiah.
- Joyce Johnson, Jubilee Institute Director
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JOYCE HOBSON JOHNSON
Director, the Jubilee Institute of the Beloved Community Center of Greensboro
417 Arlington Street, Greensboro, NC 27406
(336) 230-0001 - Office (336) 230-2428 – Fax
BS in Anthropology, Duke University, 1968
MS in Adult Education, NC Agricultural & Technical State University, 1990
Completed Doctoral Studies in Higher Education Research & Administration, UNC-Greensboro, 1993 – 1995
Joyce Johnson’s activism began as a hi gh school student in Richmond, VA during the 1960s struggle for civil rights and open accommodations. She deepened her involvement in college as one of the earlier black students at Duke University and while supporting campus non-academic employees and the movement for relevant education. A former university professor and research director, Joyce is currently Director of the Jubilee Institute, a community-based leadership development and training entity. Joyce assisted the Beloved Community Center of Greensboro (BCC) in developing the Jubilee Institute to provide institutional support, social and political analysis, training, and leadership development for the broad-based progressive movement in that city. Joyce also serves on the North Carolina NAACP State Executive Board, the Guilford Education Alliance Board, and the Faith Community Church Council.
Though officially “retired,” Joyce, the BCC and the Greensboro Justice Fund joined with other Greensboro residents in 2001 to establish the pace-setting Truth and Community Reconciliation Project. Modeled after the South African process and other international efforts, this initiative is designed to encourage truth, understanding, and healing throughout Greensboro related to the tragic murder of five labor and racial justice organizers by Ku Klux Klan and American Nazi Party members on November 3, 1979. Joyce and her husband, the Rev. Nelson N. Johnson, play a leading role in this ground-breaking model for community problem-solving. The Johnsons were recognized for their work in 2005 by both the prestigious Ford Foundation “Leadership for a Changing World Award” and by the Faith and Politics Institute of Washington, DC “Beloved Community Award.” In 2008 the couple received the “Purpose Prize Award” from Civic Ventures of Palo Alto, California and the “Defenders of Justice Award” from the North Carolina Justice Center of Raleigh. In 2009, they were recognized by the Association for Conflict Resolution as recipients of the “Diversity and Equity Award.”
In her community and church, Joyce has been active in a myriad of grassroots efforts to improve housing, employment practices, education, healthcare, women’s issues and support for African liberation struggles. Organizational affiliations have included the Afro-American Society at Duke University (founding member and Co-Chair), Black Student Movement at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Student Organization for Black Unity (SOBU), the African World Newspaper, the National Black Political Party, the Voter Education Project, the NAACP, the Coalition to Free the Wilmington 10, the African Liberation Support Committee, the Greensboro Association of Poor People, the Citizens Committee Against Police Brutality, the Southern Faith, Labor and Community Alliance, and the Beloved Community Center of Greensboro.
In conjunction with her husband, Joyce has dedicated almost 40 years to bringing about significant social and economic changes in Greensboro, NC and throughout the United States. The Johnsons have two adult daughters, Akua Johnson-Matherson, a university administrator, and Ayo Johnson-Townsend, a registered nurse and certified recreational therapist. They are also the proud grandparents of four grandchildren, Nia, Imani, Alise, and Nelson Josiah.
Lewis Brandon
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Elena Conley
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Joseph Frierson
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Tim Gwyn
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Demetria Ledbetter
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Wesley Morris
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Terry Speed
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