Lifting every voice: Michelle Tyrene Johnson champions social justice from the page and the stage

By Chandra Blackwell

Michelle Tyrene Johnson has known since childhood what it’s like to be different.

She grew up in a low-income, predominantly Black neighborhood in Kansas City—but from 5th grade through 12th grade, she commuted two hours round trip by city bus to attend St. Francis Xavier and then St. Teresa’s Academy.

“That means I was constantly moving in and out of worlds,” she says. “Being in a Black neighborhood and going to a predominantly white school; growing up with working-class money and being around people who had more money. It’s been every aspect of my life.”

That life now encompasses success in multiple careers — or, you might say, worlds — with one unifying pursuit: centering people who typically exist on the periphery and making sure all voices are heard.

As a senior producer for Louisville Public Media (LPM), Johnson produces — among myriad other broadcasts — “Race Unwrapped,” the station’s acclaimed podcast exploring complex issues surrounding race in America. The show, which she also hosts, won a Vernon Jarrett Medal for Journalistic Excellence in 2025 for its 4th-season focus on the relationship between race and the U.S. voting process.

As a playwright, Johnson boasts numerous honors, including a National Endowment for the Arts grant for her play “Only One Day a Year” (which was also selected for the Kennedy Center’s New Visions/New Voices festival) and, more recently, nomination for a 2025 OnStage Colorado Award for Theatrical Excellence for her play “Chasing Breadcrumbs.” Both plays examine the outsider’s view from a liminal space.

Having also grown up in what she calls a nontraditional household (her mother, grandmother and grandfather), she credits her family as the foundational influence that shaped her life.

“[My family] encouraged my curiosity, and what they couldn’t do or provide in terms of their own background, they were great at making sure that I had any book I wanted. I started working at libraries when I was 14 years old,” she continues. “I’ve always loved books, and learning, and the world beyond my house.”

Going where the story is
One of Johnson’s more pivotal experiences in the world outside her house was at the University of Kansas, where she enrolled in the William Allen White School of Journalism with a plan to become a magazine journalist.

Thanks to an introductory reporting class with KU journalism professor Mike Kautsch, however, those plans changed quickly. “I was completely bitten by the reporting bug,” she says, describing a pull so strong toward the discipline that she voluntarily wrote for the University Daily Kansan before she was on the staff. “I hung around so much that I got stories assigned,” she recalls, “and once I was actually on the staff, I was in hog heaven!”

After five years as a journalist following her graduation from KU, Johnson stepped onto a new path toward social justice advocacy by enrolling in law school at the University of Missouri. With that degree, she became an employment attorney — but she discovered she could have more direct impact with a pen.

Johnson defines social justice as “inspiring people to care, whether they can personally relate or not,” and believes that responsibility is at the core of work as a journalist and playwright. “Even though I practiced law for eight years,” she says, I think being a lawyer is the least impressive thing I’ve done. I find the work I’ve done since practicing law far more important in living out my values,”

Johnson’s values brought her back to journalism eight years ago after a 25-year hiatus, first as a reporter for Kansas City-based NPR member station KCUR, and then as a producer at Louisville Public Media. She maintains that the “journalism bug” has always been part of her DNA.

“My way of looking at the world is about information and conversation,” she says, adding, “I think that’s so much of what journalism is; truth is the pillar, but information and conversation are the two things that always lead me.”

Bringing up the lights
Drawing from her rich background in journalism (and bolstered by a Master of Fine Arts degree in writing), Johnson also wields a mighty pen as a playwright, weaving the same rooted truth into her plays.

“As a playwright I’m doing creative, fictional writing, but so much of my work deals with real issues and has historical components, [and] I’ve found that that’s how people learn,” she says. “I can give the best speech in the world, and in the moment, people will be right there with me, but five minutes after they’ve left, they won’t remember it because it was someone talking at them. But if I write a story that someone sees on stage, they will be thinking about it for weeks and months. I want things to have meaning and purpose and resonance past the moment. And whatever way I can do that, I like to be part of that effort.”

Johnson again credits her family — particularly her grandmother — for influencing her work as a playwright.

“My grandmother was one of my best friends. She had a foul mouth, with the biggest heart, and was smart as a whip without having a lick of education. Her insights on everything were both hilarious and completely on point,” says Johnson. “I like to believe that there’s a lot of my grandmother in what I write. There’s an honesty that comes from being direct, but funny and insightful, and a person who cares about other folks.”

Jayhawk pride and privilege
Although Johnson has proven herself to be a force in multiple careers, her biggest effort comes back to caring about people.

“I’ve always had to navigate being an outsider and the biases that come with being an outsider,” she says, “so I think that’s why in every place I’ve ever worked, I’m [known as] safe space if you’re different — whatever that difference is. That,” she continues, “is my highest point of pride: that people feel safe in my presence.”

Johnson lauds her overall experience at KU as where she found her passion and her people. “The way we connected as student journalists is something that’s absolutely precious,” she says. “There’s power in being young and excited about what you’re doing that is a gift not everyone gets to have.”

As a result of that experience, she says she’s such a diehard Jayhawk that she “will scream ‘Rock Chalk Jayhawk!’ in some of the most inappropriate situations.” And in case people don’t hear her dedication to her alma mater, she also provides them the opportunity to see it. “If you were to take a tour of our station and you came to the 2nd floor newsroom,” she laughs, “you would know which desk was mine.”

A self-proclaimed “Kan-tuckian,” Johnson looks at her life as one characterized by difference, but also by privilege.

“Everybody is privileged,” she explains. “It’s just a matter of what your privilege is. Mine is that I got to go to college at 17 and very quickly find my people in the journalists and journalism students I met. There is something special about people driven by the passion and the power of how they want to change the world.”