I.S. Leevy Johnson Honored by The March of Dimes
Pictured above at the Inaugural March of Dimes African-American Achievement Awards from left; Barbara Moore, Benedict College, I. S. Leevy Johnson, Chris Leevy Johnson, Ruby Leevy Johnson, Doris Leevy Johnson, George C. Johnson, Michelle Hurley Johnson and Vince Ford, Palmetto Health, event co-chair. Photo by Calvin Reese, Millennium Magazine.
The History of the Leevy Johnson Family
Isaac Samuel Leevy, a native of Kershaw County, South Carolina, moved to Columbia, South Carolina in 1907 to begin a career as a merchant tailor. Having been educated at the famous Mather Academy in Camden, South Carolina and later graduating from Hampton Institute in Hampton, Virginia, he set his sights on the Capital City as the geographic location to begin his business enterprise. On June 23, 1909, Mr. Leevy married the former Mary E. Kirkland of the Westville section of Kershaw County in A.M.E. Zion Church of Westville, South Carolina. To this union, four children were born: Ruby Geneva, Isaac Kirkland, Carroll Moten, and Marian Naomi.
Mr. Leevy?s tailor shop blossomed into a full-service department store and at one time it employed more African Americans in South Carolina than any other business. In 1930, as a result of the depression, the Leevy Department Store went out of business, but Mr. Leevy?s hopes of business success were not hampered. After the depression, he opened the first black-owned gas station in the State of South Carolina and in 1932 he and his wife established the Leevy’s Funeral Home at 1831 Taylor Street, where it remains.
Mr. Leevy?s eldest daughter, Ruby, married a former employee of the funeral home, Ollie James Johnson. To this union, five children were born, Jamescina, Charles, Carroll, Isaac Samuel, and Andrena. The two youngest children, I. S. Leevy Johnson, (named after his grandfather) and Andrena Johnson Weston, were raised by their grandparents. As a result of an automobile accident, Mr. Leevy lost his sight around 1950, and his grandson, I. S., became his guide. Young I. S. traveled with his grandfather to political meetings, church gatherings, voter registration drives, and even to the 1956 Republican National Convention in San Francisco, California. Since the 1940s, Mr. Leevy had been active in the state?s Republican Party, because he believed that all African Americans would benefit from a two-party system, and because the Republican Party was the party of Abraham Lincoln His young grandson was greatly affected by watching his grandfather?s political prowess and participation. Mr. Leevy ran unsuccessfully four times for Congress, three times for the state house and four times for the city council. Mr. Leevy died on December 9, 1968, without ever realizing his dream of becoming an elected political official.
Two years later, however, his grandson and prot駩, Isaac Samuel Leevy Johnson, made history when he was one of three African Americans elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives. No African American had served in the South Carolina legislature since 1901. I. S. Leevy Johnson is a product of the public schools of Richland County, graduating from C. A. Johnson High School in 1960. He went on to receive an Associates Degree in Mortuary Science from the University of Minnesota and the Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration from Benedict College. In 1968, he was the first African American to complete the three year course at the University of South Carolina?s School of Law and in 1970 opened up a private practice. In 1975, he and his law school classmate William T. Toal and a former legislative aide, Luther J. Battiste organized the Johnson, Toal and Battiste Law Firm.
In 1985, I.S. Leevy Johnson reached the zenith in the South Carolina legal profession when he ascended to the presidency of the South Carolina Bar. Election to this office was the crowning achievement in a distinguished legal career, which has included service as a trial lawyer, legislator, bar leader, lecturer and community servant. He is the only lawyer in South Carolina who has received all of the top honors accorded an attorney. From the South Carolina Bar, he received the Durant Award. From the University of South Carolina School of Law, he received the Compleat Lawyer Award. From the Richland County Bar Association, he received the John W. Williams Award and from the Columbia Lawyers Association, he received the Matthew J. Perry Medallion. In 1985, Ebony magazine recognized him as a dynamic leader on the ?legal front? in the United States. In 1998, I. S. was inducted as a member of the American College of Trial Lawyers. This organization has been described as the ?Hall of Fame? of trial lawyers. In 1999, Governor Jim Hodges bestowed upon him the state?s highest civilian award, the Order of the Palmetto.
In 1995, I. S. Leevy Johnson became owner of Leevy?s Funeral Home, which was founded by his grandparents, I. S. and Mary Leevy. Under his leadership, Leevy?s Funeral Home has earned the reputation of providing superior personnel, superior service and superior equipment to all families entrusted into its care. With the help of his mother, Ruby Leevy Johnson, General Manager Ben Piper, his son, Chris Leevy Johnson, and a staff of over 30 persons, the funeral home continues to provide dedicated service. In 1997, Leevy’s Funeral Home opened its Lower Richland Chapel to serve our families in the Hopkins and Eastover areas.
I. S. Leevy Johnson was married to the former Doris Yvonne Wright on July 6, 1968. To this union two sons were born, George Craig Johnson and Christopher Leevy Johnson. Doris Wright Johnson is also a graduate of C. A. Johnson High School and graduated from West Virginia State University. She earned a Masters Degree from the Ohio State University and was a former public school teacher in Richland County School District One. She currently serves as the Assistant Vice President for Institutional Advancement at Benedict College. Their eldest son George is a 1988 graduate of Dreher High School and graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1992. In 1995, he earned the Juris Doctor from the University of South Carolina School of Law and is a partner in the law firm of Johnson, Toal and Battiste, P.A. He is married to the former Michelle Manigault Hurley. The Johnson?s youngest son, Chris, is also a product of the public schools of Richland County School District One and graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1996. He has an Associates Degree in Funeral Service from the Gupton-Jones College of Funeral Service and is currently completing his requirements for the Ph.D. in History from the University of South Carolina. An ordained Baptist minister, he is the Managing Director of the Leevy?s Funeral Home and an Adjunct Professor of African-American History at the University of South Carolina.