Readers: To mark Black History Month, our February columns will profile local black personalities who’ve made historical contributions in Palm Beach County.
Cracker Johnson was king of black West Palm Beach.
James J. Johnson, born in 1876 or 1877, was a son of a mixed marriage. He earned his nickname because he could pass as white. He came to West Palm Beach in 1900 and started spending money.
He bought a building on Banyan Street; a rooming house upstairs, pool tables downstairs. Climbing aboard the real estate boom, he built the Dixie movie theater on Rosemary and Third Street, along with homes and rental operations, and bought more property across the state. He opened the Florida Bar and helped found a club for “colored gentlemen.” Many blacks couldn’t borrow money from white-owned banks, so they borrowed from Johnson.
He made pals with white business leaders and lawmen, at the same time reportedly smuggling liquor during Prohibition and running the bolita numbers game. Johnson, who couldn’t read or write except to sign his name, reportedly was raking in up to $10,000 a week by the 1940s.
Local newspapers mostly ignored blacks unless they were arrested or murdered, and so it was with Cracker. On July 2, 1946, he saw a friend being attacked behind his bar. He rushed to help and was mortally wounded in a gunfight. One of the two attackers, who were brothers, was killed, and the other was later captured. The death prompted a brief news story. Cracker Johnson’s funeral was standing-room-only. Hundreds of people, both black and white, came to bury a king.
Tags: African Americans, Black history month, Cracker Johnson, notorious crimes
Q: Who was Cracker Johnson?
A: In another time, Cracker Johnson might have been one of Palm Beach County’s greatest celebrities. But he lived, and died, in a more repressive time when blacks made the papers only when they were arrested or murdered.
James Jerome Johnson, 1877-1946, was the king of segregated black West Palm Beach.
The blue-eyed Johnson earned his nickname because he could pass as white. He came through West Palm Beach in 1900 and bought property: a rooming house on Banyan Street, a movie theater - the Dixie, later called the Strand, on Rosemary and Third Street - and a nightclub called the Florida Bar, with waiters in tuxedos. He helped start a private club for “colored gentlemen.” Blacks couldn’t borrow money from white-owned banks, so they borrowed from Johnson.
He also is believed to have smuggled liquor during Prohibition, and he ran the bolita numbers game, which put him in good company among white movers and shakers. Johnson, who couldn’t read or write except to sign his name, was raking in up to $10,000 a week by the 1940s.
But he finally made the papers on July 2, 1946. He saw a friend being attacked behind his bar. He rushed to help and was mortally wounded in a gunfight. One of the two attackers, who were brothers, was killed, and the other was later captured. The death prompted a brief news story.
Cracker Johnson’s funeral was standing room only. Hundreds of people, both black and white, came to bury a king.
Historical Society of Palm Beach County: 832-4164
Tags: African Americans, Cracker Johnson, notorious crimes
Cracker Johnson has one foot on the running board of his roadster. He’s all fedora and saddle shoes, so cool you’d swear this was a movie still.
But it’s just James Jerome Johnson, king of black West Palm Beach. The blue-eyed Johnson earned his nickname because he could pass as white. He came through West Palm Beach in 1900 and bought up property: A rooming house on Banyan Street, a movie theater - the Dixie, later called the Strand, on Rosemary and Third Street - and a nightclub called the Florida Bar, with waiters in tuxedos. He helped start a private club for “colored gentlemen.” Blacks couldn’t borrow money from white-owned banks, so they borrowed from Johnson.
He also is believed to have smuggled liquor during Prohibition, and he ran the bolita numbers game. Johnson, who couldn’t read or write except to sign his name, was raking in up to $10,000 a week by the 1940s.
He died in a gunfight behind the Florida Bar after trying to help a friend. Hundreds of people, both black and white, came to the funeral of a king.
- ELIOT KLEINBERG
Tags: African Americans, Cracker Johnson
