Mr. James Robinson Johnston’s life and legacy hold profound meaning for me, both personally and professionally, as a Black scholar working in and against institutions that have historically excluded Black and African Nova Scotian people. Mr. Johnston’s life is not simply a story of “firsts,” though those matter. It is a story of refusal, brilliance, community accountability, and the ongoing struggle for Black justice in Nova Scotia.
Born in Halifax on March 12, 1876, Mr. Johnston came of age in a society structured by racial segregation and exclusion. Barred from public schooling because of anti-Black racism, he began his education at the Maynard School, where his intellectual gifts quickly became evident. His admission to the Albro Street School as the first Black student to attend an otherwise all-white institution marked an early moment of racial boundary-crossing. He later transferred to the Halifax Academy, graduating at just sixteen years old.
Johnston went on to attend Dalhousie College, earning a Bachelor of Letters in 1896 and becoming the first African Nova Scotian to receive a Dalhousie degree and the first African Nova Scotian to graduate from any university. He later completed legal training at Dalhousie, graduating from the Faculty of Law in 1898 and becoming the first Black lawyer to practice law in Nova Scotia.
Mr. Johnston’s legal career was defined by principled advocacy rather than personal advancement. He represented clients across the province, advocating for those who were marginalized and underserved. Although deeply committed to Black justice and civil rights, he did not restrict his practice along racial lines, guided instead by a belief that justice must be accessible and accountable to community.
Equally central to Johnston’s life was his commitment to Black institutional and spiritual life, particularly within the African Baptist community. Raised at Cornwallis Street Baptist Church, he joined the African Baptist Association at the age of ten and later held leadership roles across Baptist organizations. In 1899, he took on leadership roles, including work that supported Black Baptist congregations across the province. His community engagement also extended into mutual aid and fraternal organizations.
Mr. Johnston was murdered on March 3, 1915, just days before his thirty-ninth birthday. His death sent shockwaves across the province, uniting Black and white Nova Scotians in grief and in recognition of what had been lost, not only a respected lawyer, but the promise of a more just future grounded in Black intellect and leadership.
Nearly a century later, Dalhousie University established the James R. Johnston (JRJ) Chair in Black Canadian Studies in 1991 to honour his life and accomplishments. At the time, it was the only endowed Black Studies Chair at a Canadian university. Supported by a $2.5 million endowment, the Chair was designed to sustain a senior academic post alongside curriculum development, visiting lectures, and a dedicated library collection.
The JRJ Chair honours Mr. Johnston while recognizing the distinct historical and contemporary presence of African Nova Scotian communities. Its purpose is to advance Black Studies in Canada and to connect research and teaching to African Nova Scotian communities. Each six-year appointment is housed in a different faculty or academic unit, affirming that Black Studies exists across disciplines rather than being confined to the humanities or social sciences.
As the first Black lawyer in Nova Scotia, Johnston worked within a profession structurally hostile to Black presence while remaining accountable to Black communities, Mr. Johnston’s life and commitments directly informed how I enacted my responsibilities as the fourth James R. Johnston Chair in the Faculty of Medicine. As a Black queer person, I was acutely aware of how Black people’s bodies, particularly Black queer and trans people’s bodies, have been historically surveilled, pathologized, and rendered expendable within medical systems. Mr. Johnston’s commitment to justice informed my insistence that Black health scholarship must challenge the epistemological foundations of medicine, including race-neutral frameworks that obscure anti-Black racism.
Guided by Mr. Johnston’s legacy, my work foregrounded disrupting anti-Black racism and structural violence as central to medical knowledge production. His life affirmed that occupying institutional space does not require surrendering ethical clarity or community responsibility. In this way, Mr. James Robinson Johnston remains not only a historical figure, but a living guide for how Black Studies and institutional leadership can be practiced in ways that are rigorous, relational, and accountable to Black life in all its complexity.
References
Cahill, B. (1992). The “Colored Barrister”: The short life and tragic death of James Robinson Johnston, 1876–1915. Dalhousie Law Journal, 15(2), 336–379.
Dalhousie Alumni. (n.d.). James Robinson Johnston (BA 1896, LLB 1898). Dalhousie University.
Dalhousie University. (n.d.). About JRJ Chair – James R. Johnston Chair in Black Canadian Studies.
Dalhousie University. (n.d.). About – James R. Johnston Chair in Black Canadian Studies.
Dryden , OmiSoore (blog). (2018, July 5). Dalhousie Medical School welcomes JRJ Chair in Black Canadian Studies.
Halifax Public Libraries. (2025, August 25). The story of Dalhousie Law’s first Black graduate: James Robinson Johnston.
King’s College London / Schulich Law Research. (n.d.). The “Colored Barrister”: The short life and tragic death of James Robinson Johnston, 1876–1915.
University of Toronto/Université Laval. (n.d.). Johnston, James Robinson. Dictionary of Canadian Biography.
University of Toronto/Université Laval. (n.d.). JOHNSTON, JAMES ROBINSON – Dictionnaire biographique du Canada.
Black Halifax. (2024, December 31). James Robinson Johnston.
Delmore “Buddy” Daye Learning Institute. (2021, July 8). James Robinson Johnston – E‑learning course.