[1] He had numerous appearances in the Ken Burns documentary miniseries The National Parks: America's Best Idea, broadcast on PBS September 27 to October 2, 2009, and was called the "unexpected star" of the film.

[2] Johnson attended a preview of the film at the White House that day, where he discussed the documentary with President Barack Obama.

[5] He later returned to the University of Michigan to do graduate study in poetry, before going to work for the National Park Service.

[1] He dedicated his work to this issue when he found the history of Buffalo Soldiers, the African-American regiments of the historically segregated U.S. Army.

[4][10] In 2010, Johnson was the recipient of Clemson University's William C. Everhart Award "for sustained achievements in interpretation that have illuminated, created insights to, and fostered an appreciation of our cultural and historical heritage.

[2][4] The book is a fictional memoir of a black Indian from South Carolina who becomes a Buffalo Soldier assigned to patrol Yosemite in 1903.