Miriam M. Johnson

Miriam M. Johnson (January 12, 1928–November 21, 2007) was an American sociologist and professor emerita of the University of Oregon's Sociology Department.

Life

Miriam Johnson was born Miriam Massey in Atlanta, Georgia on January 12, 1928 to Leola and Herbert Massey. While attending the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, she met Benton Johnson. They were married in 1951. In 1955 they had a son (Shannon), followed by a daughter (Rebekah) in 1957. She died on November 21, 2007 in Eugene, Oregon at the age of 79 from lung cancer after a short illness.

Career

She was educated at Georgia State College for Women at Milledgeville, and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill where she studied sociology and met Benton Johnson. In 1948 she pursued graduate studies at Harvard University's Department of Social Relations, earning a PhD. in 1955. She taught at the Women's College of the University of North Carolina until 1953. Miriam and Benton moved to Oregon in 1957 when he took up a professorship at the University of Oregon. She returned to sociological work in 1972, with a particular emphasis on gender and family roles. In 1973, she helped organize the University of Oregon's Center for the Study of Women in Society, and later served as its director. Her last book, Strong Mothers, Weak Wives, was published in 1988.