V. M. Johnson

V. M. Johnson, also known as Viola Johnson, born in 1950, is a leatherwoman, leather activist and author.^[1][2][3][4]

Life

Johnson claims that when she was seventeen years old a vampire gave her some of his own blood to drink and thus she became a vampire.^[3]

In the early 1970s, she joined the BDSM and leather scenes.^[1] In 1988, she became an honorary member of Tulsa Uniform Leather Seekers Association (T.U.L.S.A).^[5] In 2005, she started The Carter/Johnson Library & Collection, a "collection of thousands of books, magazines, posters, art, club and event pins, newspapers, event programs and ephemera showing leather, fetish, S/M erotic history".^[6]

She was a judge for many leather-related contests, including Ms. World Leather.^[1][7]

She is on the board of governors for the Leather Hall of Fame.^[8]

She was on the board of directors of the Leather Archives & Museum and is a member of the Lesbian Sex Mafia. She is married to Jill Carter.^[4]

Notable awards

• 1995: National Leather Association's Jan Lyon Award for Regional or Local Work^[9]
• 1995: National Leather Association Lifetime Achievement Award^[10]
• 1995: Pantheon of Leather Lifetime Achievement Award^[11] (Johnson was the first person to receive the National Leather Association Lifetime Achievement Award and the Pantheon of Leather Lifetime Achievement Award in the same year.)^[12]
• 1998: Pantheon of Leather Couple of the Year award (shared with Jill Carter and Queen Cougar)^[13]
• 2000: Pantheon of Leather Woman of the Year^[14]
• 2005: SouthEast LeatherFest Jack Stice Memorial Community Service Award^[15]
• 2005: Master/slave Conference slave Heart Award^[16]
• 2005: Pantheon of Leather Forebear Award (tied for the win with David S. Kloss)^[13]
• 2007: Black Beat Lifetime Achievement Award (This was the first Lifetime Achievement Award given by Black Beat.)^[12]
• 2012: Master/slave Conference Guy Baldwin Master/slave Heritage Award^[16]
• 2012: National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Leather Leadership Award^[17] (Johnson was the first woman to be given this award.)^[4]
• 2018: The Carter/Johnson Library & Collection received the Nonprofit Organization of the Year award as part of the Pantheon of Leather Awards.^[13]
• Unknown date: Induction into the Society of Janus Hall of Fame^[18]

Works

Books

• V. M. Johnson, Dhampir: Child of the Blood. Mystic Rose Books, 1995. ISBN 978-0-9645960-1-6
• Laura Antoniou (ed.),Some Women. Masquerade Books, Inc, 1995 (contributed "Journal entries")^[19]
• V. M. Johnson, To Love, to Obey, to Serve: Diary of an Old Guard Slave Mystic Rose Books, 1999. ISBN 978-0-9645960-2-3

Contributing author, notable periodicals

• Black Leather in Color^{[citation needed]}
• Black Mistress Review^{[citation needed]}

References

1. "Oral History Exhibit". Leather Archives & Museum. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
   - Aspasia Stephanou (17 July 2014). Reading Vampire Gothic Through Blood: Bloodlines. Springer. pp. 194–. ISBN 978-1-137-34923-1 – via Google Books.
2. V. M. Johnson (1995). Dhampir: Child of the Blood. Mystic Rose Books. ISBN 978-0-9645960-1-6.
3. Jay Stevenson PhD (21 January 2009). The Complete Idi Guide to Vampires: Fascinating Vampire Lore from Eastern Europe, Greece, Italy, and the Middle East. DK Publishing. pp. 168–. ISBN 978-1-101-02001-2.
4. "Vi Johnson Receives NGLTF Leather Leadership Award". Leatherati. 14 December 2011. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
5. "Membership". T.U.L.S.A.
6. "Carter/Johnson Leather Library". Leather Library. Retrieved 18 May 2014.
7. Andy Campbell (2020). Bound together: Leather, sex, archives, and contemporary art. Manchester University Press. pp. 238–. ISBN 978-1-5261-4283-2 – via Google Books.
8. "Board Of Governors". Leather Hall of Fame.^{[permanent dead link]}
9. . NLA International. 14 March 2019. Archived from the original on 3 January 2020. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
10. . NLA International. 5 November 2019. Archived from the original on 6 February 2012. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
11. Ariane Cruz (2016). The Color of Kink: Black Women, BDSM, and Pornography. NYU Press. pp. 236–. ISBN 978-1-4798-6532-1 – via Google Books.
12. "Mama Vi Johnson, Carter Johnson Leather Library". Master/slave Conference. Retrieved 25 April 2020.
13. . The Leather Journal. Archived from the original on 2020-12-28. Retrieved 2020-04-22.
14. "2000". The Leather Journal. Retrieved 22 April 2020.^{[dead link]}
15. "Jack Stice Memorial Community Service Award". SouthEast LeatherFest. Retrieved 25 April 2020.
16. "Master/slave Conference Awards". Master/slave Conference. Archived from the original on 11 August 2013. Retrieved 22 April 2020 – via Archive.is.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
17. "Viola Johnson Accepts NGLTF Leather Leadership Award". The Leather Journal. Retrieved 2020-04-22.
18. "Society of Janus". Erobay. 29 July 2019. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
19. Laura Antoniou, ed. (1995). Some Women. Masquerade Books, Inc. OCLC 34697142. Retrieved 25 April 2020.

External links

• The Carter/Johnson Library and Collection