David Johnson dies; Marin lensman, civil rights advocate
David Johnson, an early student of Ansel Adams and an advocacy-focused documentarian of Black culture in the Bay Area, has died at 97.
Mr. Johnson, a former Sausalito resident, died of pneumonia and Alzheimer's disease on March 1 at the Tamalpais Marin retirement community in Larkspur, his wife Jacqueline Sue said.
“David was a very positive person, an active person,” said Sue, who married Mr. Johnson in 2009. “He was always advocating for the underserved, the underprivileged, people who had no voice. He did that not only through his photographs, but through his actual work.”
Sue said Mr. Johnson's photography always had resonance not only as art, but as journalistic evidence of underserved minority communities.
“David Johnson's legacy will continue to inspire future generations of photographers and activists, leaving an indelible mark on the fabric of San Francisco and beyond,” said his stepdaughter, Candace Sue.
Mr. Johnson was born in Jacksonville, Florida, and raised by foster parents in the segregated South. He moved to California to serve in the Navy.
From there, Mr. Johnson decided to pursue his passion for the arts, becoming the first Black man to study under Adams, an acclaimed landscape photographer and environmentalist.
Mr. Johnson's focus on the Black community in the Fillmore District in San Francisco captured the bebop style of jazz, but also the tumultuous politics of the civil rights movement.
Jeff Gunderson, former chief librarian at the now-shuttered San Francisco Art Institute, said Mr. Johnson's artistic and civic contributions were “across the board.” The subjects of his photos included Thurgood Marshall, Jackie Robinson and Ella Fitzgerald.
“David was a very generous artist and a very generous human being. He let all of us see the world through his eyes. It was such a pleasure to witness the world that