Archive Record
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Metadata
Title |
Johnnie Green Interview |
Object Name |
Recording, Audio |
Audio Recording |
Click Here to play the Oral History Recording. |
Scope & Content |
Johnnie Green Interview Johnnie E. Green was interviewed for the Heritage Keepers Project on February 22, 2022 at the Amelia Island Museum of History by Bill Tilson. Summer Bias, AIMH Curator assisted on operating the recording equipment. Johnnie was born in 1949 in Hilliard, Florida in a two-bedroom home with an outhouse in the yard. There were five people in the family and Johnnie said it brought the family closer together. His Father, Eddie Mitchell has been deceased for over 35 years and his Mother, Mary G. Williams passed from COVID 19 in 2019. Johnnie has two sisters that are retired and live in Miami and one sister, a retired Air Traffic Control security guard lives in Hilliard. Johnnie wanted us to know he calls his sisters every Friday. Siblings are very special to him. Hilliard has always been Johnnie's home and he continues to go back to participate with special events in the community. Johnnie was a member of Hisbon Baptist Church where his mother was a member and his father was an usher. The church is over 130 years old and together, the members slowly rebuilt the church building. He recalled a time during a service when the congregation had to huddle around the heater to keep warm. Johnnie said he could look through the floorboards of his home and see the chickens running back and forth under the house. It was an experience he won't forget and says he shares his upbringing with others that never had the chance to experience what his family and friends did when he was growing up. It was a sense of community and if anyone was in need of something they could get it without a problem. If his family was low on sugar then he'd go next door and borrow sugar and the neighbors would all do the same. It was a close-knit community and everyone helped each other. If he did something wrong, his neighbor would discipline him and when he got home, his mother would also discipline him as well. It was a double punishment and Johnnie said it made him the person that he is today. He's never been incarcerated and everything he's been doing has been on a positive nature. He's reminded of the quote: "What a man does for himself will die with him. What a man does for his community will live forever." That's his motto when it comes to growing up in Hilliard, Florida. He wants to do everything he can to keep the Johnnie Green name in good standing. Johnnie's mother worked as a domestic for Janice and Jim Carr for many years. She was paid $35 a week and that money was used to take care of the family, send the children to school, buy groceries, clothes and pay bills. Yet when dinnertime came his mother would always say she was full. Johnnie later recalled she just said she was full but she wasn't; she wanted to make sure the children had enough to eat. With that being said the family "made it" and Johnnie added that God has been such a great blessing to his family. When asked about his schooling, Johnnie said Pine Forest was built in 1951 and went from grades 1-12. The Nassau County School Board bought the property from the Crewes family. Preston Morgan was very active in helping acquire the land and in the naming of the school. Among the names suggested were Preston High, Pine Breeze High and finally, the name Pine Forest Community School was chosen. Johnnie started Pine Forest as a first grader. The total number of students at that time was less than 150 kids. It was a great opportunity to be brought up by teachers that not only taught in the classroom but outside the classroom as well. Most of the teachers who taught at Pine Forest lived in Callahan. Very few lived in Fernandina. Mrs. Albert, whose husband was the first Black Mayor of Fernandina, taught at Pine Forest; Miss Mary Benjamin; Miss Jones; Miss Tisdale and Mr. Coakley all lived in Fernandina and taught at Pine Forest High School. In fourth grade, Johnnie's teacher, Miss Tisdale held him back because of his poor penmanship. Today he thanks her for that because he was able to meet a whole new group of students that stayed together as a group (29) until they graduated in 1968; the last class to graduate from Pine Forest Community School. Johnnie said a lot of his fellow students were very successful: two guys were Air Force airplane mechanics; one worked for the Post Office; one went on to own her own travel agency in Philadelphia. Everybody found something that was good for them and they made the best of it. His classmates have done a lot of great things both individually and collectively. That's what he likes about the Class of 1968. Johnnie started playing basketball in 9th grade and played all the way through his senior year at Pine Forest. He finished up his senior year being the leading scorer and rebounder for the team and said he is very proud of his high school basketball accomplishments. Sometimes he goes back to look at clippings of himself and his teammates and reminisces about what he did and what the team did. Those are things that will always be in Johnnie's heart. It wasn't easy because there was a lot of racial tension and racial conflict but they survived and came through it. When asked how he got to school at Pine Forest, Johnnie said Callahan was nine miles from Hilliard and he would be transported by bus to school. He was the last person to be picked up and the first person to be dropped off. Other students were bussed to school from Kings Ferry. That was the primary way to get to school in those days and if you were late and missed the bus, you could catch a Greyhound Bus for ten cents to Callahan and then walk the rest of the way to Pine Forest. Downtown Hilliard had one drugstore and one grocery store that was owned by Tim Blake. There was also a movie theater downtown where the black people sat up in the balcony and the whites sat below. He remembers it was 15 cents to see a movie and lunch at the school cost 25 cents at that time. Johnnie wanted to attend Grambling University to play basketball but his grades weren't as good as they should have been so he couldn't get in. After high school, Johnnie enlisted in the U.S. Air Force and stayed there for four years. He said it was the best move he could have made at the time for his age. He worked as a Sargent in charge of supplies for the B52 aircrafts. He had to make sure the officers were well supplied; a challenging job for him. He did a tour of Viet Nam from 1971-1972, went on to college at FSCJ in Jacksonville and from there he went to UNF to finish his teaching degree. He started teaching at Callahan Elementary School and the rest is history as far as his teaching career went. After graduation from college, Johnnie attended Truth Bible College and received a Master's Degree in Theology. He received a call from a friend who told him the St. James Baptist Church in Jacksonville was looking for a Pastor. He called Pastor Lawrence and was invited to visit the church. Then he was invited back the next two Sundays to bring the Word. He didn't hear back from Pastor Lawrence for several weeks and thought he didn't get the position. Then he received a call to ask if he'd like to meet on a regular basis. He was asked if he wanted to meet with the congregation to make a decision to see if he wanted to be their leader. Johnnie accepted the offers they gave him. When he started at the church they were financially in trouble. He set a five year "Blessing Plan" to help get the church out of debt. Johnnie focused the congregation on tithing and told them "all God wants is 10%." After five years, the roof of the church was paid for, the new van was paid for and the marquis boards were paid for. The church was able to prosper through the congregation's faithfulness and their commitment to tithe. Johnnie taught school for 30 years making the transition from being a teacher to being a Pastor much easier for him. He taught Math, Driver's Ed and Science; all three subjects. He wanted to have his formal education behind him so he was prepared to speak God's word to the Church. He'd taught at West Nassau High School since 1979 while he was attending college at FSCJ. He coached football for 15 years; baseball for five years; basketball for 20 years; track for 15 years, then they appointed him to be the Athletic Director where he stayed for 14 years. Johnnie has now been retired for 12 years and he's had many accomplishments at West Nassau High School. He said time really flies but if he had to do it again he'd do the same thing all over. He said there was never a day when he hated to go to work. One of the key things he said about being a successful in teaching is that you've got to come down to the student's level. You don't know what these kids are going through at home. Some might not have a father, they might not have enough food to eat or they might not have the right clothes to wear. Johnnie said God put him where he needed to be because of his heart. As time passed he felt the students knew he was sincere. He looks back on the fruits of his labor and is proud of how successful his students have been. That makes him feel good. When asked if he had been married Johnnie did not discuss his first wife but said his second marriage was in 1999. That marriage lasted 12 years. He married again in 2014 to the perfect wife: she meant what she said and said what she meant; she was very supportive of Johnnie as a Pastor and as a husband. Her name is Yvonne Green and Johnnie said she's "the one." The Church he is in now is family so he has to walk the straight line. Johnnie has a daughter that teaches at Andrew Robinson Elementary School in Jacksonville, Florida; a son that is employed by West Rock in Fernandina and his other son delivers for Amazon. He has three granddaughters: one is working on her second degree at North Carolina A&T and also runs track; one attends Santa Fe College on a basketball scholarship and is finishing up her first year and his third granddaughter is in 9th grade at William Raines High School in Jacksonville. Teaching is in the family and he said his daughter copied off her Daddy. When asked if there was anything he'd like to add about Pine Forest, Johnnie said there were two distant towns, Callahan and Hilliard that came together for one common cause and that was to get an education. When the school opened in 1951 they had a parade in downtown Callahan highlighted by the Stanton High School Marching Band from Jacksonville. Johnnie said a lot of his classmates eventually came back and taught at Pine Forest. They had a chance to go back to their heritage. The memories will always be in his mind and it was amazing everyone was able to stay together as one big group. The icing on the cake was in 1965 when the Nassau County School Board approved the funds to build a new gymnasium at Pine Forest. Johnnie said it was an honor to get the chance to be on the basketball team his junior and senior year and to play in the new gymnasium. The school is now called Callahan Middle School and it houses about 800 students. Regarding Hilliard, Johnnie said about 15 years ago there were a group of people that formed an association called the "Concerned Citizens of Hilliard" and Johnnie was elected President and he's still active as the President. The association awards scholarships to Hilliard High School students preparing to go to college. Johnnie added that in the month of July they have a "Youth Explosion" where they donate school supplies and raffle off bicycles to students. Johnnie said you should see the happiness on the kid's faces when they win a free bicycle! They are also offer health clinic workshops and guidance counselors at the event. Johnnie now works part-time as a mentor to 28 students with Take Stock in Children. His job is to help the students stay out of trouble and maintain a 2.5 GPA. Upon graduation the students receive an $18,000 scholarship to go to any college they choose. In fact, two of his female students received a scholarship to attend FSU, which is a difficult school to get in to. He likes the fact that he's back in the school system, a common ground and he knows what it's like to get involved with a student's life. Sometimes he has to be a father and sometimes he has to be a listener to his students. Johnnie said he did not personally experience desegregation in High School because he attended Pine Forest his entire student life. But when he went to teach there in 1979 there was some tension and fighting between the black and white students. Johnnie believes God sent him to Pine Forest to be teacher and repeated that he wouldn't do it any other way. Johnnie told a story about one of his former baseball/basketball players that graduated and was a few months into college, who came back and told him that he'd written an English paper on Coach Green. That conversation has stayed with him ever since they talked 25 years ago. Johnnie said he's had a good life and felt he has touched a lot of people's lives. He thanked Bill and Summer and said he appreciated being interviewed for this project. |
Object ID |
2022.012.001 |
Collection |
AIMH Heritage Keepers Project |
Caption |
Johnnie Green |
Interview place |
AIMH |
Interviewer |
Bill Tilson and Summer Bias |
Length of Interview |
42:50 |
Narrator's name |
Johnnie E. Green |
Number of images |
1 |
People |
Green, Johnnie E. |
Search Terms |
Fernandina Beach Hilliard Pine Forest High School Schools Teaching |
Subjects |
Fernandina Beach Hilliard Pine Forest High School Schools Teaching |
Date |
02/22/2022 |