The first African American mayor of Las Cruces, New Mexico, Albert Morris Johnson was born in Lebanon, Tennessee. His birth, like those of many African Americans in Tennessee at the time, was not officially recorded but he recalled that the year was 1935. He was the son of Allen P. Johnson and Louise Ricks.
Johnson attended Pearl High School in nearby Nashville, Tennessee. Pearl High School was one of the oldest high schools for African Americans in Tennessee and it was the second public African American high school in Nashville. After high school Johnson attended Tennessee State University (TSU), graduating in 1958 with a degree in civil engineering.
After graduation Johnson took a job at the White Sands Missile Range. The site is the country’s premier missile test range. Johnson rose to the position of environmental improvement coordinator for the facility. Johnson and his wife, Elmira, settled in nearby Las Cruces, New Mexico.
While living in Las Cruces Johnson became active in the local branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). He took on leadership roles with the Las Cruces branch and served as President in the 1960s. He then served as President of the Doña Ana County chapter of the NAACP and later as President of the New Mexico NAACP.
In 1968 Albert Johnson was elected to the Las Cruces City Commission, essentially the city council for the city. The first Black person to serve on the commission, he won re-election to the commission several times. On March 15, 1976, his fellow commissioners elected Johnson to serve as mayor in a 3-2 vote making him the first African American to hold that office and the first African American mayor in New Mexico history.
As mayor, Johnson, was active in securing funding for recreation and senior-citizen centers and building a new library for Las Cruces. He served two terms as mayor but did not seek re-election to the city commission in 1980.
While serving the city of Las Cruces, Johnson was also appointed to several statewide positions. In 1969 he was appointed to the New Mexico Fair Employment Practices Commission. In 1970 he became the chairman of the New Mexico Commission on Human Rights. He was selected as chairman of the South Rio Grande Council of Governments in 1975. He also served as chairman of the Governor’s Council of Criminal Justice Planning.
On December 5, 1986, Albert Norris Johnson died in Las Cruces, New Mexico from complications of leukemia. He was 49. He left his wife, Elmira, and three sons Albert, Jr., Kerry and Pierre. In 2004 he was posthumously inducted into the New Mexico Hall of Fame.
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“Las Cruces Ex-Mayor Albert Johnson Dies of Leukemia”. Albuquerque Journal. December 7, 1984, https://archive.ph/20200807200300/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/56890612/albuquerque-journal/; “Las Cruces Honors First Black Mayor, Albert Johnson” https://www.lascruceslocal.org/2024/02/01/las-cruces-honors-first-black-mayor-albert-johnson-6WQbMGaNnB; “Albert Johnson New Mexico Politician” https://kids.kiddle.co/Albert_Johnson_(New_Mexico_politician).
