V. M. Johnson

V. M. Johnson, also known as Viola Johnson, born in 1950, is a leatherwoman, leather activist and author.{{cite web|url=https://leatherarchives.org/oral-history-exhibit|title=Oral History Exhibit|publisher=Leather Archives & Museum|access-date=24 April 2020|archive-date=26 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200626230956/https://leatherarchives.org/oral-history-exhibit|url-status=dead}}
- {{cite book|author=Aspasia Stephanou|title=Reading Vampire Gothic Through Blood: Bloodlines|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L8pCBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT194|date=17 July 2014|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-1-137-34923-1|pages=194–|via=Google Books}}{{cite book|author=V. M. Johnson|title=Dhampir: Child of the Blood|publisher=Mystic Rose Books|year=1995|isbn=978-0-9645960-1-6}}{{cite book|author=Jay Stevenson PhD|title=The Complete Idi Guide to Vampires: Fascinating Vampire Lore from Eastern Europe, Greece, Italy, and the Middle East|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0_6UG5e1lmgC&pg=PA168|date=21 January 2009|publisher=DK Publishing|isbn=978-1-101-02001-2|pages=168–}}{{cite web|url=https://leatherati.com/vi-johnson-receives-ngltf-leather-leadership-award-4a8a05cfc96 |title=Vi Johnson Receives NGLTF Leather Leadership Award|website=Leatherati |date=14 December 2011 |access-date=24 April 2020}}

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.

In the early 1970s, she joined the BDSM and leather scenes. In 1988, she became an honorary member of Tulsa Uniform Leather Seekers Association (T.U.L.S.A).{{Cite web|url=https://www.tulsaleather.com/membership|title=Membership|publisher=T.U.L.S.A.}} 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".{{cite web|url=http://www.leatherlibrary.org |title=Carter/Johnson Leather Library |publisher=Leather Library |access-date= 18 May 2014}}

She was a judge for many leather-related contests, including Ms. World Leather.{{cite book|author=Andy Campbell|title=Bound together: Leather, sex, archives, and contemporary art|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eirJDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT238|year=2020|publisher=Manchester University Press|isbn=978-1-5261-4283-2|pages=238–|via=Google Books}}

She is on the board of governors for the Leather Hall of Fame.{{Cite web|url=https://leatherhalloffame.com/index.php/board-of-governors.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161207224224/https://leatherhalloffame.com/index.php/board-of-governors.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 7, 2016|title=Board Of Governors|publisher=Leather Hall of Fame}}

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.

Notable awards

1995: National Leather Association's Jan Lyon Award for Regional or Local Work{{cite web |url=https://www.nla-international.com/list-of-winners-3.html |title=List of winners |publisher=NLA International |date=14 March 2019 |access-date=8 May 2020 |archive-date=3 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200103035259/https://www.nla-international.com/list-of-winners-3.html |url-status=dead }}
1995: National Leather Association Lifetime Achievement Award{{cite web|url=http://www.nla-i.com/html/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=27&Itemid=47 |title=All NLA-I Awards |publisher=NLA International |date=5 November 2019 |access-date=22 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120206062431/http://www.nla-i.com/html/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=27&Itemid=47 |archive-date=6 February 2012}}
1995: Pantheon of Leather Lifetime Achievement Award{{cite book|author=Ariane Cruz|title=The Color of Kink: Black Women, BDSM, and Pornography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6gXvCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA236|year=2016|publisher=NYU Press|isbn=978-1-4798-6532-1|pages=236–|via=Google Books}} (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.){{cite web|url=http://masterslaveconference.org/portfolio/vi-johnson/ |title=Mama Vi Johnson, Carter Johnson Leather Library|publisher=Master/slave Conference|accessdate=25 April 2020}}
1998: Pantheon of Leather Couple of the Year award (shared with Jill Carter and Queen Cougar){{Cite web|url=https://www.theleatherjournal.com/pantheon-awards/recipients|title=Pantheon of Leather Awards All Time Recipients|website=The Leather Journal|access-date=2020-04-22|archive-date=2020-12-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201228055005/https://www.theleatherjournal.com/pantheon-awards/recipients|url-status=dead}}
2000: Pantheon of Leather Woman of the Year{{cite web|url=https://www.theleatherjournal.com/newsrssfeed/item/35-2000 |title=2000 |website=The Leather Journal |access-date=22 April 2020}}{{dead link|date=November 2021}}
2005: SouthEast LeatherFest Jack Stice Memorial Community Service Award{{cite web|url=https://www.seleatherfest.com/our-history/js-award|title=Jack Stice Memorial Community Service Award|publisher=SouthEast LeatherFest|accessdate=25 April 2020}}{{Dead link|date=January 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
2005: Master/slave Conference slave Heart Award{{cite web |url=http://www.masterslaveconference.org/history-awards.html |title=Master/slave Conference Awards |publisher=Master/slave Conference |via=Archive.is |archivedate=11 August 2013 |access-date=22 April 2020 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130811102637/http://www.masterslaveconference.org/history-awards.html |url-status=bot: unknown }}
2005: Pantheon of Leather Forebear Award (tied for the win with David S. Kloss)
2007: Black Beat Lifetime Achievement Award (This was the first Lifetime Achievement Award given by Black Beat.)
2012: Master/slave Conference Guy Baldwin Master/slave Heritage Award
2012: National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Leather Leadership Award{{cite web|url=https://www.theleatherjournal.com/news/leather-community-arts-society/item/705-viola-johnson-accepts-ngltf-leather-leadership-award |title=Viola Johnson Accepts NGLTF Leather Leadership Award |publisher=The Leather Journal |access-date=2020-04-22}} (Johnson was the first woman to be given this award.)
2018: The Carter/Johnson Library & Collection received the Nonprofit Organization of the Year award as part of the Pantheon of Leather Awards.
Unknown date: Induction into the Society of Janus Hall of Fame{{cite web|url=https://www.erobay.com/calendar/Calcium40.pl?CalendarName=Janus&Op=ShowIt&Amount=Day&NavType=Both&Type=List&DayViewHours=1&Date=2019%2F7%2F20 |title=Society of Janus |publisher=Erobay |date=29 July 2019 |access-date=21 April 2020}}
2021: Leather Archives & Museum’s Chuck Renslow & Tony DeBlase Founders’ Award{{Cite web|url=https://leatherarchives.org/support/30-30-anniversary-campaign/|title=30 30 Anniversary Campaign – Leather Archives & Museum}}

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"){{cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/34697142 |title=Some Women|editor= Laura Antoniou|year=1995 |publisher=Masquerade Books, Inc |oclc=34697142 |access-date=25 April 2020}}
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