Mordecai Wyatt Johnson (January 4, 1890 – September 10, 1976) was an American educator and pastor. He served as the first African American president of Howard University from 1926 until 1960. Johnson has been considered one of the three leading African American preachers of the early 20th-century, along with Vernon Johns and Howard Thurman.
Johnson was born on January 12, 1890, in Paris, Tennessee, to parents who were former slaves. His father was Reverend Wyatt J. Johnson, a preacher and mill worker. His mother, Carolyn Freeman, was a domestic worker for one of the prominent families in town.