Johnson also filed an anti-discrimination suit against Illinois Central Railroad in the mid-1960s after he was turned down for a special agent position.

Johnson won the suit and became the first African American special agent.

Johnny Washington, a former Negro league player and friend of Johnson, said: "Duty lived on the same block as Charlie and really took a liking to him."

Johnson spent his time in the Negro league barnstorming the United States and Canada.

Johnson married in 1942 and, at his wife's insistence, quit baseball in 1944.