Sheary Darcus Johnson (1947 - )

Harrisonburg

Civil Rights Pioneer

Sheary Darcus Johnson grew up in Harrisonburg, where she sang in the choir of her father’s church and attended the city’s segregated schools, which lacked sufficient educational resources and experienced teachers compared to schools for white students. A determined student who sought academic challenges, she persuaded her father to petition the city’s school board for her enrollment at Harrisonburg High School. Johnson and other Black students integrated the school in 1964. Two years later she received early acceptance to Madison College (now James Madison University), which that year also became a fully coeducational institution. An off-campus resident, she was a member of Madison’s concert choir. In 1970, Johnson became the first Black undergraduate to earn a degree at Madison College when she received her
B.A. in library science. She went on to earn a master’s degree in elementary education there in 1974.

After working as an elementary school librarian in Harrisonburg from 1970 to 1978, Johnson and her family moved to Richmond, and she served as the head librarian at the high school in Hopewell. Continuing her studies, Johnson completed an Ed.D. at the University of Virginia in 1988, and taught library science at Virginia Commonwealth University. A lifelong member of the Church of God in Christ, she established Victory Family Worship Center with her husband, directed the Victory Academy of Early Learning, and founded Better People Inc., a community education program, in addition to writing two self-help books. In 2021, James Madison University renamed the Justice Studies building in Sheary Darcus Johnson’s honor.


2026 Strong Men & Women in Virginia History honoree.

Photograph courtesy of Bobby Russell.