Lyman Tefft Johnson (June 12, 1906 – October 3, 1997)[1] was an American educator and influential role model for racial desegregation in Kentucky.
[2] His father was educated in part by Edmund Kelly[3] and Lyman Beecher Tefft, for whom Johnson was named.
[4] His father was a graduate of Roger Williams University in Nashville and principal College Hill School in Columbia.
[5] Johnson served in the United States Navy during World War II;[1] he commented on the high point of his Naval career:[6] Toward the end of the war, long about the middle of '44, or maybe the beginning of '44, they made twelve ensigns, and they announced then to all the rest of us that, "We're making twelve ensigns.
He told me, 'Well, my God, sailor,' that's what he called me, 'You fellows, some of you got more education than these officers that are appointed to serve over you.
... Johnson taught history, economics, and mathematics[1] for 16 years at Louisville's Central High School before engaging the University of Kentucky in a legal test case intended to permit him to pursue further graduate study there.
[7] in a documentary, Great Leaders:the Odyssey of Lyman Johnson, he says that crosses were burnt on the campus the first few days that he attended.
Once while defending underprivileged youth in public schools, Johnson quoted from memory lines from "Thomas Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard."
"[9] In addition to opening the door for thousands of minority students, he also led struggles to integrate neighborhoods, swimming pools, schools, and restaurants.