Marietta Johnson Museum

Humble Beginnings

Mrs. Johnson, a teacher from St.Paul, Minn., read the works of Nathan Oppenheim and C.Hanford Henderson, and became inspired to start her own experimental school. She moved to Fairhope, a Utopian community, at age 38.

...and World Reknown

A Unique Approach
Encouraged and funded by friends in the small experimental community of Fairhope, Alabama, Mrs. Johnson began her revolutionary school on a ten-acre campus - teaching, writing, training teachers in her method. Her little school attracted national attention, and she was one of the founders of the Progressive Education Association.

A speaker of great power, she was able to persuade audiences and educators of the validity of her philosophy, and her school attracted a number of intellectuals to Fairhope to enroll their children in The School of Organic Education. Mrs. Johnson believed in classes without final examinations, homework, or failure.