Research has shown that children who have poor socialization skills are most likely to form unhealthy relationships as adults. They also have trouble asking or accepting help from others and are more likely to demonstrate aggressive or violent behavior. Johnson goes on to say that fighting and arguments were very common and reoccurring in her family household. She recalls several instances where her and her sisters have fought each other. As a teenager, her main goal than became, in her words, " I had to get the hell out of my mother's house. " .
I found it to be very note worthy and interesting that Johnson was one of the first black students to integrate Garrison Junior High; which at the time had only white students. After graduating, from Frederick Douglas High School she attended Coppin State University. I found it also interesting that at that time white students were permitted to attend "black " colleges and universities under what she referred to as, "the other race grant"". Johnson's area of concentration was elementary/special education. When asked why she chose this field, her response, I was touring different facilities that worked with special education children and realized there was a need for more teachers. " Initially, Johnson began as a nursing student but soon realized that she disliked math and science. .
Johnson married when she was eighteen, and admits that she married for the wrong reasons; pregnant, but not in love. At age twenty-two she decided to leave the marriage and they divorced. She looks back in retrospect, when her ex-husband chastised her saying, "What are you going to do single with two children?"" Her response was, "I will get two jobs"." That is exactly what she did; public assistance was not an option for her. When she started college she was a single mother and working full-time. Traditionally men go out and work as the breadwinners for the household, while women stay at home (doing housework and take care of children).