Alexis McGill Johnson
*The birth of Alexis McGill Johnson is celebrated on this date in 1972. She is a Black academic, Women's Rights Activist, and social justice advocate.
McGill Johnson was born in New York City. Raised by both parents, her mother worked her way up from a secretary to an executive-level position at AT&T. McGill Johnson's childhood was strongly influenced by her parents' pride in Black history, culture, and heritage. In 1993, she graduated from Princeton University with a bachelor's degree in political science and focused on Latin-American social movements. She received a Master of Arts from Yale University in 1995, also in political science.
McGill Johnson taught political science and African American studies at Yale and Wesleyan University. She served as political director for Russell Simmons' "Hip-Hop Summit Action Network" and was the executive director of Citizen Change during the 2004 election season, launching their "Vote or Die!" campaign. In 2009, she co-founded the Perception Institute (formerly known as the American Values Institute), a research group studying bias reduction and discrimination, and was their executive director.
She co-created the curriculum for Starbucks' racial bias training in May 2018. McGill Johnson was Planned Parenthood's board's chair from 2013 to 2015. On June 26, 2020, she became president and CEO of Planned Parenthood. McGill Johnson has also served on the New York Civil Liberties Union boards, the Center for Social Inclusion, and Citizen Engagement Lab. She lives in New York City. She is married to Robert Johnson, who is the president of the Institute for New Economic Thinking. They have two daughters.
