Remembering English High Years
Arnold Henderson, Jr. ’66 Remembers History Teacher Kenneth Johnson, A Committed Scholar and Teacher.
In his own words…
“In 1965, I was a junior who had been assigned by my conscientious and energetic sophomore history teacher Mr. Diesso to an Advanced History Class taught by Mr. Kenneth Johnson, the only African American academic teacher that I had during four years of high school.
As a fairly naive kid from Roxbury who attended the Boston Public Schools from kindergarten through my senior year, this was a memorable event. I had some very committed teachers during my 12 years and most of these men and women ranged from reasonably capable to outstanding. There were some in junior high that I as an elderly man still think of with resentment. Fortunately, this was never the case for me when I attended Boston English.
Mr. Kenneth Johnson in the 1966 English High Yearbook
Mr. Johnson was a committed scholar. He enjoyed teaching and he liked young people. He would sometimes move away from the text and discuss personalities and events in greater detail. He was confident, dignified, well prepared and had a subtle sense of humor. Although most of our course was concerned with European History, I recall that he would sometimes make references to Africa and I vaguely recall that he mentioned the work of W.E. B. Du Bois.
Several years later, when I was a young teacher at another high school, I discovered that one of my older colleagues was Mr. Johnson’s wife. I told her that I had always enjoyed her husband’s classes even if I sometimes failed to do all of the reading. It was a rewarding experience to have him as a teacher and role model.
I was fortunate to have supportive adults in my family, neighborhood and church, but Mr. Johnson had been a unique role model among several committed and thoughtful teachers. I would sometimes think of him in later years when I taught US History. My appreciation for Mr. Johnson’s great commitment to teaching young people remains with me today. ”
Arnold Henderson, Jr. in the English High Yearbook
Arnold Henderson ’66 grew up in Roxbury. After his English High graduation, he earned a BA in English at UMass Boston, then taught for 11 years at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School. He then joined the Salem State University staff where he ran programs for first-generation college students from urban areas. Among his memorable students were NBA star Patrick Ewing and New York Mayor Bill DiBlasio.
From there Arnold became Class Dean at Brandeis University where he was named Person of the Year in 1986. He then moved on to MIT where he rose to become Dean of Counseling and Support Services, and was named to the President’s Americans with Disabilities Act Advisory Committee.
Arnold was honored by MIT in 2012 with the MIT Excellence Award for fostering diversity and inclusion, and received the 38th Annual MKL Leadership Award. He also served on the President’s Planning Committee for the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration.
Since his retirement in 2014, Arnold has been helping to gather information for MIT’s Black History Project, an ongoing collaborative research effort working to archive 150+ years of black experience at MIT.
