James Johnson Exhibit

A photography exhibit on the life of James Collins Johnson offers a view into the six decades that Johnson, a freed slave, spent on and around Princeton’s campus, from 1843 to 1902. A trial under the Fugitive Slave Act nearly had Johnson returned to his former owner, but a local woman purchased Johnson’s freedom (a debt he subsequently repaid). Over the next 60 years, he worked on campus in a variety of capacities, most notably in the memory of students, as the campus’s sole snack vendor. The Princeton University Trustees recently announced plans to name the easternmost arch in East Pyne Hall for Johnson. Sponsored by the Campus Iconography Committee.