SOAR LLI instructor Fred L. Johnson III recalls two messages from the part of his childhood he spent in Prince George County, Maryland.

“Growing up in the South – in Maryland – you’re always told what you can’t do,” said Johnson. “I was raised in a household where my mother always told me: Your only job is to prove them wrong.”

In 1980, it was his mother’s message that Johnson chose to act on when he came up against a barrier preventing him from completing Officer Candidates School of the United States Marine Corp.

“I was stung by 19 bees in a field operation in Quantico, Virginia,” related Johnson, “and I was in a 3-day coma. The doctor said I had an anaphylactic reaction to flying insect venom and I was not qualified to be in the field.

“I disputed that claim. It was grinding, grueling work. I spent the next year in Washington D.C. going from hospital to hospital, while I was then a full-time student and worked full-time as an assistant manager at an auto parts store. I found a doctor who gave me a waiver. I forced their hand. I graduated college and got a commission as Second Lieutenant.”

For 12 years, Johnson served as a Communications-Electronics officer in the United States Marine Corp. He was an Infantry Officer in the Marine Reserves, and is now Captain, United States Marine Corps (Retired).

In 1981, Johnson received a B.S. in History and Teacher Education from Bowie State College [now University] in Maryland. He received his M.A. in 1993 and Ph.D. in 1999, both from Kent State University in Ohio. He has been teaching history at Hope College in Holland, Michigan since 2000, and was appointed to the college’s Guy Vander Jagt ’53 Endowed Professorship in 2022.

On November 22, 2019, Johnson was awarded the Medal of Honor from the Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton Chapter in Holland, Michigan, National Society Daughters of American Revolution (DAR). The Medal of Honor is the highest honor awarded by the DAR, and one of the reasons Johnson received it is because he “has dedicated his life to making positive change in our country.”

One such positive change Johnson is making is helping students to learn about different cultures by leading them on tours to Vietnam. Another change he is engaged in is obtaining fair housing for veterans as a Board Member of the Habitat for Humanity of Kent County. A third change Johnson is realizing is educating inmates at Muskegon Correctional Facility through the Hope-Western Prison Education Program.

Although he is very much involved in the real world, Johnson enjoys the escapism of science fiction such as the Star Trek television show.

“I confess I’m a sci-fi geek,” said Johnson. “I’m a big fan of Star Trek. In 1966, ‘67 Gene Rodenberry essentially had a message — an underlying message of working together.”  Johnson gave an example of one episode of the Star Trek television show that emphasized this underlying message.

“Let That Be Your Last Battlefield” was the name of it,” Johnson said. “There was a police commissioner who was black on the right side of face and white on the left side of his face, and the fugitive was white on the right side and black on left side of his face. Besides that, there was no difference between them, but they spent 500 years of fighting on their planet. It showed the stupidity of racism.

“The show has never lost the idea that different people from different planets are always working together to improve everyone. We come together as a team. We can be better.”

Hiking is another one of Johnson’s favorite activities. He said he mostly hikes in Michigan, but sometimes hikes in Harper’s Ferry in Prince George County, Maryland. Johnson listed some of the reasons why he likes to hike.

“It gives me a chance to reconnect,” he said. “It is mostly good exercise. I clear my head, any confusion. It is mental comprehension for what I’m writing at the moment.”

At the moment Johnson is writing a book he plans to title Firewalker: A Political Awakening. The book is about his 2008 and 2010 campaigns as a Democrat for the U.S. House of Representatives, Michigan’s 2^nd Congressional District.

Dr. Johnson has been teaching the “Scholars of SOAR” since the Winter 2016 term and has taught 28 classes since then. SOAR and our Scholars are truly grateful for his support and all he gives not only to SOAR, but to the rest of the community as well.