As Phillip Wilson farmed the Louisiana soil in the 1930s, surrounded by the pervasive bigotry of the South, he had one insistence for his nine children: They would get an education.

Johnny Wilson was the second oldest of the nine, and he adhered to his father's wishes, going to college, entering the Army, returning to college for an education degree, then moving to Rochester where he would become a significant leader in the City School District during an era of integration and tension.

Johnny Wilson Sr., who died Dec. 6 at the age of 89, was best known locally as the principal of Madison High School, which was the focus of controversy when it closed in 1981. Mr. Wilson pushed for budgets for the school that would provide the students the same education and experiences — he had to even battle for a marching band — to match suburban offerings and even the opportunities in other city schools.

"He ran that school with a firm hand," said former Rochester Mayor Bill Johnson, who was friends with Wilson when Johnson was president of the Urban League of Rochester Inc. "He was fair. He was an old-fashioned kind of guy. You didn’t talk back to adults. You didn't disrespect females. If you were supposed to be in class, you were in class."

Calvin Cheek, a student at Madison when Mr. Wilson was principal, remembers how Mr. Wilson would roam the halls, constantly engaging with students and ensuring they felt welcome.

"Mr Wilson, he was like a father figure to a lot of us," said Cheek, who now lives in Maryland. "He was a motivator. He was more like a principal-guidance counselor. 

"Many people have told me stories how he he helped them in their personal life, if they needed a jacket or if they needed to speak to someone on a spiritual level. ... He would go in his own pocket and help you out if you didn't have lunch money."

Cotton funded tuition

Mr. Wilson was a student at the historically black Grambling University in Louisiana, his tuition funded by the family sales of cotton, when his father, Phillip Wilson, died. He left school and returned to the family farm, ensuring that his siblings could get the education their father wanted for them.

"In the community that they lived in my dad was a father figure to everybody," said Johnny Wilson's daughter, Yolanda Wilson Clarke. "In the community many of the men had left to go on to other parts of the country."

Wilson did return to Grambling, where he met his future wife, Nathalie Callahan — they married in 1951 —  and played football for the legendary coach, Eddie Robinson. And he continued to press the need for education; five siblings attended college and all went into careers.

"To have your mind opened up is just amazing and that’s what dad always encouraged us to do — learn as much as you can, then apply the knowledge," said Clarke, who is now a doctoral student at the University of Rochester.

His own education was partly broken up by his service in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. Later, he served in the Army reserves, retiring with the rank of Colonel.

Mr. Wilson's decision to make a career in education was driven by both passion and practicality. 

"Teaching was part of the family culture and it was one of the only fields that black people could be successful in at that part of the 20th century," Clarke said.

After serving in the Army and receiving an education degree, Mr. Wilson taught and worked near his Louisiana home. In the late 1960s, as schools underwent desegregation, he and his wife and their three children moved to Rochester, along with a number of black educators recruited from the South.

He started as an assistant principal at Franklin High School, then took the helm at Madison in 1971. He also supervised the district-wide program for students with discipline and attendance issues.

Direct about racism

At Madison, his daughter said, Mr. Wilson sometimes clashed with the School District leadership over funding. There sometimes seemed less willingness for assistance for the school and its largely black student body, she said.

"He was very direct that racism was alive and well, but he also said we're going to do the best that we can to be who we are and we're not going to compromise our identities," said Clarke.

The Wilson household, she said, had two sets of encyclopedias — one traditional, and another set that did not obscure the rich history and contributions of African-Americans. While other students learned of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks, Mr. Wilson made sure his children also read of the histories of Booker T. Washington and Carter Woodson and Malcolm X.

"For some people integration meant leaving their blackness behind and integrating into whiteness," Clarke said. "My father was a very proud black man."

Madison, located on Epworth Street in southwest Rochester, did have a troubled history before its closure, with episodes of violence. But, for many students, it also provided an expansive education that was a steppingstone to a solid future. And, Cheek said, Mr. Wilson was key to the educational environment.

"He was a very integral part of it because ... you knew he was supporting you in every way. He was always there to say an encouraging word."

After Madison's closure, Mr. Wilson went onto other leadership positions at other schools. He also ended up at the epicenter of a political controversy in 1990, when African-American leaders made an issue of the fact that Mayor Thomas P. Ryan Jr. had no people of color in department commissioner positions in his administration.

Ryan appointed a minority commission, then, without approval from its members, chose Mr. Wilson, who had retired from city schools, as public safety commissioner. While many were friends with Mr. Wilson, the commission members were disappointed that Ryan acted unilaterally. As the controversy flared, Mr. Wilson decided not to accept the job.

Johnson, who then headed the Urban League, said Mr. Wilson would have been a fine fit for the job, but he also understood why there was pushback.

"On his own he withdrew," Johnson said. "He decided this has got to be done the right way. That was indicative of the kind of person he was. He did not want that job with controversy."

After retirement, Mr. Wilson worked with the Urban League and the University of Rochester. He and his family were all active with Mt. Vernon Baptist Church.

"While he was educating us from a secular standpoint, he infused the spiritual and the religious because morality and goodness were very important to him," Clarke said.

He is survived by his wife, Nathalie Wilson; his children, Rev. Dr. Johnny Wilson Jr. (and wife Levonne); Ruperd Wilson (and wife Frances); Yolanda Wilson Clarke (and husband Rev. Dr. Kenneth Clarke Sr,); his siblings; and eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.






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