Meet an innoFaither is our series to introduce the inspiring optimists in the innoFaith world and what they’re working on and thinking about. We hope it helps you find and engage with each other across the network to advance faith-rooted social innovation and interfaith collaboration for social impact. Or just meet some cool people.
Meet Rev. Cynthia Johnson-Oliver, preacher, poet, and public servant. Cynthia is founder of the FaithJustice Foundation, as well as the Bishop Joseph Johnson History Project, which she created to tell the story of her grandfather, the first African American to graduate from Vanderbilt University, and his role in civil rights history. Cynthia carries on her grandfather’s legacy not just by sharing his story but through her deep dedication to social justice in our time.
What faith(s), if any, do you practice? Is your faith or practice bringing special inspiration or insight for you in this current moment?
I’m an ordained elder (minister) in the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. After serving a United Methodist Church for ten years, I stepped away from local parish ministry to finish writing a book. Lately, my spiritual practices have leaned heavily toward contemplative spirituality. I have been reading works by Joan Chittister, Richard Rohr, Thich Nhat Hanh, and a very cool, interesting book by Jay Shetty, Think Like a Monk. I’ve been praying the liturgical hours and developing a meditation practice. This contemplative turn has been very timely for me during the pandemic with its moments of solitude and also moments of anxiety. Spirituality and self care have really intertwined for me. Contemplative spirituality has also been quite compatible with developing a writing practice for my book project. Thus, my faith practice has worked well and brought fresh insight during this current moment. But I do miss the gathering of spiritual community and look forward to that as well.
Where do you live?
Arlington, VA
What's your favorite pastime?
I enjoy reading and writing poetry. I enjoy experiencing various visual and performing arts, especially theater, ballet, jazz, classical music, and the many museums in the DC area. I also enjoy women’s basketball. Of course, I also enjoy a good book or series or movie to watch during our family movie nights.
What are you working on currently?
I’m currently writing a biography about my grandfather, Bishop Joseph A. Johnson, Jr., who was the first African American to graduate from Vanderbilt University and the first to integrate a private, white university in the South. He was also the first to receive a PhD degree from Vanderbilt and the first to serve as a full member of the university’s Board of Trust. He later became a bishop in the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, a professor of New Testament, and a scholarly pioneer in the field of black liberation theology which emerged at a critical time during the civil rights movement. Today, the Bishop Joseph Johnson Black Cultural Center honors his legacy on the Vanderbilt campus.
His life story intertwines the desegregation of private, higher education in the south with racial divisions in American religious institutions and the development of black theology. I’ve been drawing upon extensive archival and oral history research to write this untold story of another “hidden figure” in the history of civil rights in America. So far, I’ve received grants from the Louisville Institute (funded by the Lily Endowment), Vanderbilt University, and the United Methodist Commission on Archives and History. You can watch a book trailer here.
I also continue to serve as a board member for the FaithJustice Foundation, a nonprofit I started in 2017 to empower congregation-based social justice ministries. After some pre-pandemic success with programs like the The State of the Dream, the FaithJustice Forum and Social Justice Summer, we’ve been discerning our next steps in this new era that is emerging.
What question are you thinking about these days?
With the book I’m writing, I’ve been thinking about the importance of understanding history as indispensable context for contemporary social justice movements. As I’ve segued from leading a social justice nonprofit to writing a historical biography, the transition has worked for me because I see continuum of creating a more just society from the past into the present. Understanding the history of voting rights, police reform, health care justice, and economic justice is vital as these issues resurface in new ways for new generations. Especially at a time when our history is being banned in certain parts of the country, history has become essential social justice work. We need to reread the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” and hear that portions sounds as though they were written today. We need to understand the backlash following The 1619 Project. Whether writing history, teaching history at home or church, or fighting to keep history in school, we need to claim the power of our stories and make sure that we are the arbiters of our past as well as our future.
How can people find you?