ALBANY, N.Y. -- Juanita Nabors was honored Saturday as the recipient of the Henry Johnson Award and celebrated with her own day by Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan. Nabors has been a significant advocate for charter schools, focusing on literacy and working closely with young people.
She has also played a crucial role in efforts to preserve the High-Mush and an area known as Rap Row, a community historically settled by people who migrated to Albany from Mississippi.
"So, you know, really has been a remarkable steward here of our history and of our community," said Sheehan.
The award is named after Henry Johnson, a U.S. soldier in the first African American unit of the U.S. Army to engage in combat during World War I. Johnson bravely fought off a German raid in the Argonne Forest, killing multiple German soldiers and rescuing a fellow soldier while being wounded 21 times. He was the first U.S. soldier to be awarded the French Croix de Guerre.
Although he died in July 1929 in relative obscurity, his bravery has since been recognized, and he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.