KU Libraries exhibit honors Kansas City civic leader, alum

Dorothy Hodge Johnson speaks as a delegate from the Missouri-Kansas Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers at their National Assembly in 1971. Johnson is being honored with an exhibit at the Spencer Research Library through Feb. 28.

University Archives, Kenneth Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas Libraries

The KU Libraries is honoring Dorothy Hodge Johnson, a longtime civic leader in the Kansas City area, in a new exhibition, “African-American Women Make a Difference: the Papers of Dorothy Hodge Johnson (1916-2004),” at KU’s Spencer Research Library through Feb. 28.

The exhibition, also featured online at spencer.lib.ku.edu/exhibits/johnson/index.html, marks the opening of the papers, which Johnson donated to her alma mater. The collection—a large body of letters, photographs and printed works—document an impressive legacy of a lifetime of leadership in service to the community. They are open for use by students, scholars and the general public.

Deborah Dandridge, field archivist in African-American history, and Sheryl Williams, curator of the Kansas Collection at the Spencer Research Library, will offer a gallery talk at 3 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 17, at the Spencer Library, located behind Strong Hall at KU. They encourage KU instructors, students and community groups to contact them to arrange class and group visits.