Johnson Family

Doris’ life was shaped by her summers spent in Bangor, Maine. Many of her fondest childhood memories are from time spent there with her close-knit family. From an early age, Doris studied music and dance. Her mother came from a family of eleven and all the children in her mother’s family played musical instruments. Her mother studied dance as did Doris and her older sister Pauline from elementary school through college. Her (paternal) Great “Aunt
Jesse” was a missionary in Monrovia, Liberia who wrote letters to her grandparents about her experiences, while sending photographs and stories home of her work as well. As a teenager, Doris found out about auditions for a scholarship to the Katherine Dunham school at the Harlem YMCA. She was successful in her audition and took classes on Saturdays throughout her adolescent years. Later, she studied African and Caribbean dance throughout her college years. Her father Hubert gave Doris and her sister Pauline each a brownie camera while in elementary school. From that moment on, Doris documented her life’s journey every step of the way. Coming from a family of activists, her maternal grandmother Edith Delaney Johnson and uncle were founding members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in Bangor, Maine in 1920. This motivated Doris as an activist and she became a lifetime member of the NAACP at the age of 16.

For Doris, Bangor Maine was full of treasures, and she fondly spent her
memorable summertime there as a youth. In addition to dance and photography, Doris and Pauline were both taught how to sew by their mother, and she made her own clothes from the fifth grade on. Her acculturation in the arts included painting – which she later translated into photography.