Dr. Josie Robinson Johnson is a locally renowned American community organizer and activist for African American rights. Described by the Minneapolis Star Tribune as the "First Lady of Minnesota Civil Rights." She has been a lifelong advocate for equity in housing, education, and voting rights.

Born October 7, 1930, San Antonio, Texas. After attending Fisk University, she married Charles W. Johnson, and the couple moved to Minneapolis in 1956.

Upon arriving in Minnesota, Johnson became a community organizer for the local affiliate office of the Urban League, holding the acting director position from 1967 to 1968, and became active in the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party. She was an officer in the Minneapolis chapter of the NAACP and held a position in the Minneapolis chapter of Jack and Jill of America, an organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for children. Johnson worked with the League of Women Voters in Minnesota in collaboration with Black and Jewish neighborhood associations to set up Fair Employment Practice Commissions in Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Minnesota. She was the first Black woman to be appointed to the National Board of the League of Women Voters, and the first Black person appointed to the University of Minnesota Board of Regents. Johnson was instrumental in the success of a fair housing bill in Minnesota in 1962.

Her 2019 memoir, “Hope in the Struggle”, provides insights into her life's work as well as the racial history of the Twin Cities