ONE SOARING
EAGLE
A Tribute to The Honorable Clifton E. Johnson
On a bright day in November, retired Judge
Clifton E. Johnson enters the building
of the North Carolina Central University Law
School. For the first time in many years, he
enters without the trappings of the judiciary.
This time, he enters sans the black judicial robe,
in a spectacular suit, with that same swagger of
confidence and determination that those who
know him recognize as uniquely his.
The word gets around quickly: Judge Johnson
(not Elvis) is in the building. Before he can
negotiate the short path to the conference
room of the law school, where he is to meet me
for this interview. Judge Johnson must make
numerous stops to speak to all of the folk he
has come to know over the years. Tliese stops
indelibly include a stop by the Deans’ Office
to do two things. First, to inquire of the Dean
how the law school is progressing, and second,
to tell the charming and gentle lady who has
been secretary to the deans of the law school for
more than twenty years, Mrs. Iris Gilchrist, a
joke or two. And if there is a young student who
looks like he or she needs an encouraging word,
Judge Johnson does not hesitate to stop and
give a word of encouragement. You see, Judge
Johnson knows, first hand, what it means to lose
self-confidence.
When Judge Johnson came from the small
Martin County town of Williamston, North
Carolina to the hustle and bustle of NCCU
(then North Carolina College) at Durham,
he lost confidence in his abilities. Haunted by
fears of failure and embarrassing his family and
himself. Judge Johnson withdrew from college.
He called his mother, told her that he had
withdrawn from school and asked her to have
someone come and pick him up. His mother
told him to take the bus home. So, he sold some
of his meager belongings to other students to get
the bus fare home, said good-bye to his room¬
mate and friends, and returned to Williamston,
but not for long.
Upon arriving in Williamston via bus, he called
home again and asked his mother to have
someone pick him up at the bus station. She
told him to take a cab. Judge Johnson caught a
cab, and to his surprise, the cab driver even knew
that he had quit school. When he arrived home,
he was greeted by several friends, relatives and
teachers who were waiting to counsel the appre¬
hensive Clifton Johnson. After listening to the
advice and kind ministrations of those persons,
Judge Johnson soon decided that he would
return to college. However, when he called
NCCU to seek re-admission, he was told that he
could return, but that he would have to secure
off-campus housing. His room space in Chidley
Hall, the only dormitory for male students, had
been given to another student. There was no
available room left in the dorm, or anywhere else
on campus.
Although he was willing to return to NCCU,
things looked bleak because his family did not
have financial resources to pay for off-campus
housing. Two of the teachers who greeted him
upon his arrival home, Mr. Leroy Mizell and
Mr. Richard Broadnax, were graduates of North
Carolina A&T State University at Greensboro.
They offered to assist Judge Johnson in getting
into A&T, if he would consider going there.
His mother, knowing that Glifton desired to
attend law school and that NCCU had a law
school, thanked them, but insisted that her son
would return to Durham to attend college. Mrs.
Johnson then called her sister who was living in
Durham, and after explaining the situation to
her, asked if Clifton could live with her family
while attending NCCU. Mrs. Johnson’s sister
and husband, Mr. and Mrs. Lossie Mason, gladly
welcomed their nephew into their home. Judge
Johnson, accompanied by the same self-confi¬
dence that has accompanied him throughout a
most stellar career, returned to NCCU within
two weeks of his earlier departure.
Judge Johnson, or Clift as some know him, is
one of NCCU’s most distinguished alumni.
Judge Johnson enjoyed a phenomenal career,
entailing many firsts. After earning his under¬
graduate degree in 1965, Judge Johnson
obtained his law degree in 1967. Thereafter, he
went on to work as an associate attorney, first
SPRING 09
NCCU SCHOOL OF LAW of counsel magazine 7
