Robert Johnson (1911-1937) · Mapping Migration

Summary Label: The Grandfather of Rock Music
Title: Robert Johnson (1911-1937)
Date of Birth: May 8th, 1911
Date of Death: August 18th, 1938
gender: Male
Hometown or Region: Hazelhurst, Mississippi
Freedom Status: Free
Occupation: Traveling Blues Musician
Biography: Robert Leroy Johnson was born on May 8th 1911 in Hazlehurst, Mississippi to Julia
Dodds and Noah Johnson whom Julia had recently moved in with. Instability between Julia and
Noah would force Julia to send an infant Robert to live with her ex-husband in Memphis. Robert
stayed in Memphis until his mother brought him back to Mississippi in 1919 to assist her new
husband Will “Dusty” Willis in his sharecropping. Robert hated his new life and refused to work,
eventually starting to run away back to his family in Memphis. In 1926, Robert became a
musician, eventually getting his first guitar in 1927, quickly learning the instrument. By 1928, a
teenage Robert was playing small house parties and dances while also traveling to Tunica,
Mississippi to play at local bars and dance halls for free food and drinks. Continuing to travel,
Robert met his first wife Viriginia Travis in Clack Mississippi who tragically died in childbirth,
taking her unborn baby with her on April 10th 1930. A devastated Robert would quickly move
on, finding himself in Hazlehurst, Mississippi, where he stayed for around 7 months and was
mentored on guitar by Ike Zimmerman. Robert would leave Hazelhurst in late 1931, traveling
around the Mississippi Delta, Arkansas, Tennessee and Missouri until November 1936, when he
got a recording deal. Robert recorded 16 songs in San Antonio, Texas. These songs sold well and
Robert was called back in June 1937, recording his final 13 songs in Dallas, Texas. A year later
on August 16, 1938 in Greenwood, Mississippi, Robert died after drinking some poisoned
whiskey given to him by a jealous husband of Robert’s lover.; See Map on Robert Johnson
Student Researcher: William Overton