The big, red-brick building on State Street once housed the home
and business of the free black barber William Johnson. Johnson,
successful businessman and relentless diarist, sometimes called
“the black Pepys,” chronicled the day-to-day dealings of a
society when cotton was king. The National Park Service has
owned the house since 1990, but the Johnson diaries have been
famous for their rare glimpse of antebellum history since LSU
published them in 1951. Schoby – who once taught, like his
father before him – didn’t find his middle-school job a good
fit. When his Alcorn State University professor told him about
the Park Service opportunity, Schoby jumped at the chance. Now
he teaches, all right, but the lesson plan involves one man:
William Johnson. That man was extraordinarily interesting,
clever and complicated, straddling the line between black and
white societies. And Schoby has made it his business to learn
Johnson’s strengths and frailties. Johnson was a money lender,
some might say a loan shark. He eve