Menokin Descendant Collective Spotlight: Reverend Maxine Johnson-Harris

Reverend Maxine Johnson-Harris

Our Menokin Descendant Collective Spotlight for April Reverend Maxine Johnson-Harris! Maxine is the second great-granddaughter of Daniel West Gordon and the third great-granddaughter of Amanda Beverly and Stafford Gordon.

She is a native of Essex County Va., and graduated from Richmond County H.S. While working in New York, she continued her education and earned her BA from the College of New Rochelle, an MS in Library Information Science from Pratt Institution, Brooklyn, NY., and a MS iin Education (School District Administration) from The City College of the City University of New York. She also completed professional courses in Education Administration at Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Connecticut.

Retiring in the fall of 2009 after 25 years combined with the New York City Public Library System as a Children and Young Adult Librarian and New York City Department of Education as the Founding Principal of the High School for Teaching and the Professions in the Bronx,NY., Maxine decided to take on another challenge. She entered Drew University/Theological School in Madison, NJ with a full scholarship and graduated in 2012 with a Master of Divinity Degree. Following graduation, she served as the Senior pastor of First UMC in Passaic, NJ. She also had the pleasure of serving four years and returned to New York. After returning to NY, Maxine served St. Paul’s UMC, Hartsdale, and Ashley UMC as an interim pastor.

She has MJH Associates LLC under which she facilitates spiritual retreats, coordinates motivational workshops, and still accepts invitations to be the keynote speaker for special occasions. Maxine is still actively engaged in Pastoral Care. Maxine shares, “When I stood weeping before the “Door of No Return” at Fort Elmina, Slave Castle in Ghana West Africa, I never imagined that I would stand before another door and walk through not enslaved as my ancestors but embraced with a profound sense of interconnectedness.

Being a part of this newly found village of relatives is a blessing for me, my son Gene, and especially my granddaughter Alex. I can imagine that my late son Dallas Henderson III (Skippy) and my father Roosevelt Johnson are watching us with a sense of pride and anticipation as we embark on this journey together. I am honored to be a descendant of Daniel West Gordon and because of him my family’s story is woven into the fabric of Menokin Descendant Collective.”