Collections by Michelle Brown WSG Michelle S. Johnson

Joining Collections byMichelle S. Johnson. Michelle S. Johnson is a public scholar in the fields of African American history, literature and cultural production and has taught in Liberal Studies and African American Studies at Grand Valley State University, American Thought and Culture and History at Michigan State University and English at Saginaw Valley State University and University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Johnson holds a B.A. in Humanities from Michigan State University and a PhD in American Culture from the University of Michigan.

She was one of the co-founders and Executive Directors of Fire Historical and Cultural Arts Collaborative.  Under her leadership, this Kalamazoo arts and cultural non-profit came to serve as the go-to organization for emerging artists and cultural producers.  As a professor, Johnson developed her identity as a public scholar in cultural studies and created programs and classroom environments that provided significant academic skills while retaining and encouraging students to think critically and creatively.  During her work as the Freedom Trail coordinator for the State of Michigan, Johnson solidified her public scholarship and leadership and expanded her contribution to assist professional and lay-historians in the preservation, documentation and promotion of Underground Railroad histories.  

As DJ Disobedience She has been a popular DJ on Kalamazoo’s WIDR 89.1 FM Radio since 2006.