William T. Johnson Short Biography

William T. Johnson, also known as the barber of Natchez, was a slave until his freedom from who is thought to be his father, William Johnson, in the year of 1820. His “father” let him go when he was eleven years of age. He was freed after Amy, his mother, in the year of 1814, and Adelia, his sister, in the year of 1818. He had sixteen slaves and his eleventh child was born at the time of his murder in the year of 1851. He was murdered at the age of forty-two. He lived and worked in Natchez from the year of 1830 to his murder in the year 1851. He learned the trade of a barber from his brother-in-law James Miller. He bought Miller’s barber shop from him for 300 dollars after he learned the trade of a barber. When he had mastered the trade, he started to teach young, free, black boys the trade of a barber. Shortly after he bought the shop and started to teach the trade of a barber to young, free, black boys, he started to keep a diary. He kept this diary up to when he was murdered in the year of 1851. Now that his business investment of 300 dollars had grown to 3,000 dollars, he was a prominent citizen in the community of free blacks. Having this status he was impeccably dressed and sure of the future. He was looking to find

This argument between Johnson and Winn found them in court. The judge ruled in favor of Johnson. This made Winn very angry. It made Winn so angry that on the way home he ambushed Johnson. He shot and killed Johnson, but Johnson stayed alive long enough to name Winn the guilty party. Although Johnson named Winn the guilty party, he was never convicted of the crime. Johnson did have a witness, but it was a young black boy. Winn was in prison for two years and brought on trial twice, but at this time in history blacks in general could not be witnesses in any criminal cases, therefore Winn was never convicted for the murder of