Obituary on International Association of Women in Radio and TV site

Here is a link to an article remembering Mal and a photograph on the IAWRT website. Mal was a great favourite in this organisation, and did a great deal of work as a board member and UN Representative to put it on its current track. http://www.iawrt.org/Archives/2007/2007_MalJohnson_obit.htm

If anyone would like to make a donation to IAWRT as a remembrance of Mal, you can reach the organisation through its website. IAWRT gives scholarships, travel fellowships for meetings, and production grants, and the nascent US chapter will be seeking support for its nonprofit incorporation in the US - a project Mal was working on until just before she died. She strongly believed that IAWRT needed to broaden its funding base, and that having a chapter that could seek donations in the US was the next order of business. IAWRT US members, please take note and live up to her challengs.

Yours, (past President) Frieda Werden

November 30 Memorial Service at National Press Club

A memorial service for Mal Johnson will be held at the National Press Club in Washington DC, on November 30, 2007, 3 to 5 pm. It's being coordinated by Kim Otis, executive director of the National Council of Women's Organizations, www.womensorganizations.org . Please contact NCWO if you are from an organization that Mal supported and would like to co-sponsor the event or recommend a speaker. The event will be videotaped.

Hi Mal

We missed you in Nairobi,
Your spirit was with us in Nairobi as we wrote to you fondly of our times with you - we recalled your stories of Nairobi and your desire to meet Wangari. I can hear you sing your song seeking justice for women being a leader and reporting the high and mighty. Believe me, the IAWRT roots will not break as you have nurtured them with your strength and vision. Sing Mal as your resting place is in the hearts of the IAWRTIANS!
Jai Chandiram
IAWRT India
(Past President, International Association of Women in Radio & Television)

How Mal became a feminist (by Johanna from Finland)

Mal Johnson was one of the most courageous people I have ever met. She was – and continues to be – incredible inspiration to me.

She told me a story from the time she became a widow. After her husband died, she found herself stranded as she could not drive. “That’s when I became a feminist,” she said. She decided to teach herself. She would take the car out at 3 a.m. when the streets were empty to practice driving all by herself. When she went to take her driving test, the inspector asked where her driver was – you were not allowed to drive yourself. Mal said, “Oh, he is just there behind the corner.”

She would never be stopped by anything. Until now.


Mal was awarded with a 2006 Foremother Award, please see

http://www.center4research.org/foremothers2006.html

She kindly invited me. Her acceptance speech was incredible - I am still thinking if it would be proper to post it (as I can remember it) but she probably would not mind. It was about how she started her Washington career, covering the Hill....




My special thanks to Ingrid for introducing us.



Johanna

A friend from Finland

Mal Johnson - In Memoriam (by Gundel Krauss Dahl, past President of IAWRT)

The International Association of Women in Radio and Television has lost a pillar of strength with the passing of Mal Johnson and it will be hard, if not impossible, ever to replace her.

Mal became a member in 1979. With her strong personality, her commitment and experience, she put her mark on the organisation from the outset. She urged us strongly to link up with other international organisations and she soon became IAWRT’s official representative with the UN. Throughout the years, the authority and respect she enjoyed opened doors for IAWRT. In the early days, she established contact with the American Association for Women in Radio and TV. In 1994 she brought Helvi Sipilä, one of the founders of UNIFEM, to speak to the conference in the Philippines, and more recently, in 2003, Mal’s name gave immediate access to Noeleen Heyzer’s office in the UN and brought the then head of UNIFEM as guest of honour to the conference in Ghana.

“I am a do-gooder,” said Mal, “and as such I want people to be organised into effective disciplines.” She truly believed in the value of organisations and the need to build international networks of sisterhood.

And she certainly did deliver. She helped revise the statutes of IAWRT and she set up a Policies and Procedures document. She formulated the rules and framework for the establishment of national and regional chapters, which strengthened the structure of the organisation and made it more decentralised and democratic. To the last, she never spared herself. Who else, at her age, would have stepped in at short notice and taken over total responsibility including the practical arrangements of a big international conference, when the original venue fell through - as she did in Williamsburg in 2005?

On a personal note, Mal was such a great friend! And so much fun. Generous, warm and appreciative when approached, but never self-effacing or overly humble. She knew her worth and expected to be respected for it. I remember when were having a board meeting in London and were booked into a central hotel that Mal arrived a day later and was told there was no room for her. She looked at the hotel clerk, informed him that a room had been booked and that she would have no nonsense about it. Her inborn authority, energy and will spoke volumes through her body language. The clerk didn’t stand a chance and a room was conjured up for her in no time. Why do I particularly remember this rather banal incident? In many ways it was so characteristic of Mal and her inherent strength and sense of plain right and wrong.

In her life and work she used all that strength, knowledge and talent to fight for the things she so passionately believed in. To use her own words again:
“I am in the ‘change the world’ business. I want everyone to enjoy the life of their choice, and freedom to be that which they choose. So therefore it is natural that I should join causes that promise freedom and equality. If you ask me what I have done, my answer is ‘not enough’. Each generation makes the path a little easier for those who follow.”

Mal has paved a way for us to follow. She has left us a legacy which we should be proud to honour.

In fond memory,
Gundel Krauss Dahl
Oslo, Norway

Mal's last words

The following is from from the Message Board on the National Association of Black Journalists' site. I'm copying it in full, because it is embedded in a page that has quite a few different obituaries, and you don't want to miss her last words, at the end:

Mal Johnson Dies, Key Figure in NABJ's Early Years
Mal Johnson, a key figure in the birth of the National Association of Black Journalists and the first female reporter at Cox Radio and Television News, died on Saturday at a hospital in Fairfax County, Va., after suffering from diabetes, her sister, Norma Simpson, said. Simpson said she was 85.


Mal Johnson
"There is a large question of whether there would even be an NABJ were it not for Mal," her good friend and co-founder of the 32-year-old association, Paul Brock, told Journal-isms on Tuesday.

People— including the organization's presidents— had all kinds of ways they wanted to spend NABJ's money, Brock recalled, but "Mal wouldn't give it up," he said, speaking of NABJ's meager treasury, then so small its contents could be carried around by hand. "Everybody hated her."

Johnson was treasurer of the association for eight years, "a curmudgeon who guarded NABJ's meager funds like a hen, often to the point of insulting members who became upset if their registration payment was misplaced or membership was not recorded," Wayne Dawkins wrote in his 1997 book, "Black Journalists" The NABJ Story."

"Sarah-Ann Shaw called Mal 'tart-tongued,' but for good reasons," Dawkins wrote.

"'As treasurer she felt personally responsible,' explained Shaw. 'She wouldn't let anyone handle the money. She felt her integrity was at stake.'

"Mal Johnson made no apologies. She said that 'everyone in the organization was on an ego trip.

"'None of them wanted to participate as leaders and do the work.

"'I had most of the burden of the organization.

"'I didn't care about being appreciated. I did care about their dedication. Some of them only wanted to chase the girls.'"

A short biography for the National Council of Women's Organizations, where Johnson was chair of the Global Women's Task Force, reads:

"Ms. Johnson is a founding member of Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists, and was a television reporter at the former WKBS in Philadelphia. Ms. Johnson became the first female reporter employed at Cox Radio and Television News, where she worked for 27 years. As their first female White House correspondent, Ms. Johnson covered five presidents, as well as Capitol Hill, the State Department, and various Federal agencies. In 1980, Ms. Johnson was promoted to Senior Washington Correspondent and assigned additional duties as National Director of Community Affairs. Ms. Johnson consults and serves on many boards, including the International Association of Women in Radio & Television, and is a world traveler. She is a Founder of the National Association of Black Journalists and the National Broadcast Association for Community Affairs. She was inducted in the Journalists Hall of Fame in 2000. A TV documentary of her life is in the Archives of the History Makers of America."

The former Mal Hooser told Dawkins she entered journalism after teaching and living with her husband, Frank B. Johnson, a career Air Force officer, overseas. After he died, "I was running the civil rights movement for the North City Congress (Broad Street and Columbia Avenue in North Philadelphia), an umbrella organization for 450 nonprofit organizations.

"In 1965 I got a call from Channel 48 . . .

"'I didn't know the station. They wanted someone to run the public/community affairs department.

"'The person who interviewed me (John Gilmore) didn't realize I was a black person until I got there. You could see he was startled. But I wasn't going to let him off the hook. The person who called me was his boss.

"'After about an hour he said he'd get back to me. I wasn't home 30 minutes before my phone was ringing and Gilmore was begging me to take the job. he said his job was at stake. We later became friends.

". . . Johnson worked at [WKBS-TV] until March 1969.

"At that time I was giving a speech to women broadcasters in Houston. I was giving them a hard time because they turned down a $150,000 grant from HEW (U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare) to train minority women for broadcasting jobs.

"'Their reason was, if we train them, they'll take our jobs.

"'The president and CEO of Cox Broadcasting, J. Leonard Reinsch, was the next speaker. I didn't know.

"'In order to shut me up, the group named me to the board of American Women in Television and Broadcasting.

"'At the next meeting, Reinsch was the only male there. He hired me.

"'He became my guiding mentor. I went to Cox as a Capitol Hill correspondent.

"'A few months later, I became White House correspondent. I worked for 21 years (1969-90) in radio and television, broadcasting to 22 stations."

"'Reinsch was the man who brought us the (FDR) fireside chats. He taught Eleanor Roosevelt how to speak (on the air) and taught Truman to speak.' Reinsch died in 1991."

Simpson said her sister wanted a private funeral with only family members, and she is honoring her wishes. The service is planned for Philadelphia next week.

Brock quoted Johnson's last words, spoken to Simpson, of Philadelphia, who survives along with Simpson's four sons:

"If anyone cries or starts to feel sorry for me, I'll come back and kick their ass."

"Salut Mal" (Tribute from Madeleine Memb)

Salut Mal,
Devrais-je regretter ton départ au moment ou tu quittes ce monde. Sincèrement non ! Tellement tu représentais une figure et un esprit dont la mission principale semblait être : ¨favoriser l’épanouissement de ses semblables.

Ton œuvre en témoigne !
A ton contact de nombreuses personnes ont appris à croire en elles, et surtout à croire en les autres.
Ton engagement à éclairer et offrir à tous ceux qui le plus souvent ont douté de leurs capacités marquera à tout jamais les esprits de ceux et celles qui t’ont côtoyée, mais aussi les générations futures qui en apprendront sur ton dynamisme, ton altruisme et surtout sur ton degré de militantisme en faveur de la cause de la femme.
Je me poserai d’ailleurs la question de savoir si tu avais une autre vie en dehors de l’organisation du combat pour l’amélioration du statut de la femme ! Même la maladie n’a pas réussi à freiner ton élan ou émousser ton enthousiasme à ce sujet. J’en veux pour preuve ton dernier mail

De: "mal johnson"
À: membmadeleine@yahoo.fr
Objet: greeetings!
Date: Fri, 08 Jun 2007 10:04:35 -0400
I hope all is well with you. I am having some problems with surgery on my foot, caused by diabetes. I hope I will be able to attend the UN events in September where each year I have arranged an event for any attending IAWRT members. I do not have plans to attend the Kenya meeting at this time; but when it gets closer I may consider it.

Mal, tu resteras un modèle. Tu as tellement inspiré aussi bien les femmes que les journalistes du monde entier, de toutes les races qu’au moment où tu nous quittes, la première des choses que j’aimerais te dire est MERCI !

Que la terre de nos ancêtres te soit légère.
Toute mon affection t’accompagne
Madeleine Memb,
Cameroon