Henry Johnson Jr

Henry Johnson Jr 🌍: I uncover the stories they left out.
🛫: Truth-Telling | Travel | Culture He is currently the CEO of Ethno Records.

Henry Johnson Jr is a Liberian-American travel influencer, entrepreneur, artist, author, social activist and filmmaker. He graduated from Colorado Film School (The top 25th film school in the world) and the University of Colorado Denver. In 2017, his short Thai film "Mother's Home" won Best Thai Short and Best Actor awards.

🦴 What was the first sign of true civilization?A weapon? A building? A tool?Nope.According to one of the greatest anthro...
07/27/2025

🦴 What was the first sign of true civilization?
A weapon? A building? A tool?

Nope.
According to one of the greatest anthropologists of our time, it was something far more unexpected… and deeply human.

It was a healed bone.
A femur — the thickest bone in the human body — once broken… but restored.

📍Think about that.

In the animal world, a creature with a broken leg is as good as dead.
It can’t hunt. Can’t run. Can’t survive.
Unless… someone stays behind.
Someone sacrifices their own safety.
Someone risks it all — to help another heal.

🩺 That’s what Margaret Mead called the true beginning of civilization.

Not the invention of fire.
Not the wheel.
Not the construction of temples or towns.

But compassion.

Because you can’t heal alone.
A broken femur takes six weeks to mend — and for that bone to recover, someone had to care.
Someone had to carry them. Feed them. Protect them. Wait.

💡 So maybe real progress isn’t about how fast we innovate…
But how deeply we love.
How boldly we stand for the wounded.
How fiercely we protect each other’s humanity.

That’s what it means to be civilized.

It’s not the skyscraper.
It’s the stranger who refuses to let you fall.

📣 If this made you pause —
drop it in your group chat.
Send it to someone who stayed when others walked away.
And feel free to follow the page if you believe in a future built on healing, not just headlines.














07/27/2025

True freedom is not in agreeing — it’s in allowing others to speak without fear. Respect is the seed, and hope is what grows when we listen.

🔥 What’s the FIRST thing you’d grab if your house caught fire?The kids are crying. Smoke is filling the hallway. Panic i...
07/27/2025

🔥 What’s the FIRST thing you’d grab if your house caught fire?

The kids are crying. Smoke is filling the hallway. Panic is rising.

You rush to the window — and there it is…

🪜 The fire escape ladder.

It’s saved millions of lives.

But here’s what they never told you:

A Brotha invented it.

Joseph Richard Winters, born in 1816, was the son of a free African-American father and a Shawnee mother. In 1878, he patented one of the first fire escape ladders designed to hang outside buildings.

🔥 Foldable.
🔥 Fast.
🔥 Life-saving.

And this truth is not to divide, but they buried his name like so many others who didn’t “fit” the narrative.

But this isn’t just a ladder — it’s a lifeline. A legacy. A symbol of the quiet genius that built this world from the shadows.

So here’s the truth:
Every time a child climbs out of danger…
Every time a life is saved in seconds…

That’s Joseph Winters.
And they never taught us his name.

But we’re teaching it now.

🖤 Because Black history isn’t just pain — it’s protection.
🪜 invention.
🔥 It’s how we survive, as people right here in America.

If this made you pause for a moment — don’t let it stop here.

Drop this in your cousin’s inbox.
Text it to your uncle.
Tag your sister.

Please send it to someone who is raising the next Joseph Winters.

Because stories like this deserve to be known.

And if you want more forgotten names and world-changing truths like this?

Follow the page. That’s what we do here.
We resurrect what they buried — and we do it with love. 🙏🏾














🇱🇷 Imagine being the only West African president in the room, suit pressed, flags waving, and cameras rolling. You came ...
07/26/2025

🇱🇷 Imagine being the only West African president in the room, suit pressed, flags waving, and cameras rolling. You came to represent the only West African country founded by Black
Americans 🇺🇸, like a boss.

And then—outta NOWHERE—the most powerful man on Earth looks at you, squints his eyes like he solving a Rubik’s Cube and says:

“You speak good English!”
😳😩😭🙈🤣

EXCUSE ME, SIR?!
Not “bonjour.”
Not “hola.”
Not even “you dey chop?”

ENGLISH, ma dude. 😂🙈🤣 The language he invented confusion in, and he’s now shocked you can speak it even better than him. 😂🤣🙈

And you said, “Sir, I’m from Liberia 🇱🇷. We got presidential oaths in English, baby! We don’t need translators and surely don’t need a therapy after that comment.”

This ain’t Wakanda 3.
It’s Liberia — real place, real Wi-Fi, real Will Smith do n’t-slap-me-twice energy. 🇱🇷💥

Built by Black Americans who said,
“Y’all trippin’. We out.” ✌🏾

Meanwhile, some of y’all are still yelling,
“Boycott African food! We don’t eat Egusi soup or fufu!”…like your DNA didn’t come with seasoning. 😂😭🍲🙈

Denying Africa after 500 years and at least two wars is like screaming, “I want freedom!”…
but turning down the passport that came with it. 🛂💀🙈

Most European Americans don’t beef with Europe. Why we still beefin’ with home? What would Malcolm, King, Biko, Mandela, etc., say?

Rock with me….🙌🏿

In 1821, some Black Americans packed up, crossed the Atlantic, and said:

“Let’s build our OWN country… but keep the English. And the bowties.”

By 1847?
📜 Constitution written.
📣 Independence declared.
🎓 Fluent in English and passive-aggressive diplomacy.

Their first president?
Joseph Jenkins Roberts.
Born in Virginia.
Moved to Liberia.
Became president before Obama could even spell “Barack.” 😤

By U.S. Laws and the one-drop rule that I don't support, he was the first ‘Black President’ to rule a nation. And, why haven't you known this?

So yes, Mr. President. We speak English, better than Siri, and with a dash of ancestral seasoning.

Now here’s where it gets wild… 👀

What if I told you Liberia isn’t just any African nation but a country literally created by an off-branch of the U.S. government in 1821, called the ACS (American Colonization Society)… 🇺🇸

Their mission?
To send freed Black Americans “back to Africa” to escape racism and build a land of their own. ✊🏾🌍

And they did.

🇱🇷 In 1847, Liberia declared independence, becoming one of only two African countries never colonized alongside Ethiopia 🇪🇹.

They wrote a constitution based on the U.S., named their capital Monrovia after President James Monroe, and spoke perfect English from day one, not “pidgin.”

But that’s not all… 💥

🇱🇷 Liberia didn’t just survive, it shaped the very world that we live in.

🛞 The rubber in your car tires?
Your sneakers?
Countless global industries?

Came from Liberia’s vast rubber plantations—especially Firestone, which helped fuel the world economy for decades. 🌍💰

Liberia birthed the spirit of Pan-Africanism—long before it became a slogan. Yet many who shout it today overlook the nation that embodied it first. Liberia isn’t just a country; it’s a living bridge between Black America and Africa, built from pain, hope, and return. So why do we still divide ourselves as Africans and Black Americans, when Liberia already proved we’re one? 🤝🏾

I know not all of us do this, but as much as I believe in the unity of all people, we as Black folks (Africans and the Diaspora), distant relatives with perhaps a shared genealogy, must be our brother’s keeper because at the end of the day, our differences have never been at war.

So the next time someone tells a person from Liberia:

“Wow, you speak really good English for an African…”

Just nod and reply:

“Well… Liberia was made in America.” 🇺🇸 👉🏿🇱🇷

This isn’t about division. It’s about reflection and how deeply connected our histories really are.

📚 They didn’t teach us this in school, but we’re teaching each other now.

✊🏾 May we keep telling these stories even when they’re not promoted, and the truth feels too heavy for some to hold.

And oh….!

🎉 Happy Independence Day to Liberia! 🇱🇷
May God continue to bless the world‘s most powerful second Black nation, after Haiti 🇭🇹, and all its people. 🙏🏾💙

Liberia's story is ours, from rubber to resistance, language to legacy.

🔥 If this moved you—text it to a cousin, drop it in the group chat, and follow this page for more truth. We’re not done, but just getting started. 🌍✍🏾




✊🏾🔥📘🇱🇷🫶🏿🇺🇸

🪑 Ever sat in a folding chair at a graduation, a church service, or a family cookout… and never once thought about who i...
07/26/2025

🪑 Ever sat in a folding chair at a graduation, a church service, or a family cookout… and never once thought about who invented it?

It’s always there.
Lined up in rows.
Pull out when guests arrive.
Stacked in church basements.
Set up for weddings, funerals, community meetings, and school assemblies.

But have you ever asked yourself who created this everyday essential, made it foldable, portable, and easy to seat people?

The answer is powerful — and long overlooked.

🧠 His name was Nathaniel Alexander, a brotha.

📅 In 1911, he patented the first folding chair with a built-in bookrest, perfect for churches, schools, and gatherings.

He wasn’t just building furniture, access, and a community blueprint. 🛠️ Meanwhile, some folks still operate with a 1614 mindset, saying, “Not everything is about race…” but never once lifting a finger to build a genuinely inclusive environment. 🙃 It’s always funny how they grip their titles tighter than grandma’s Tupperware,
bitter as burnt coffee, all while forgetting they’re sitting in a chair designed by someone they’d never hire. ☕💼😂

And the twist? Some folks who wouldn’t have interviewed this man or anyone that looked like him today have been using his inventions daily, long before “convenience” became a billion-dollar buzzword.

That’s the definition of staying 10 steps ahead with love ❤️ while some folks still tryna find the map. 🧠💼💥

Since then, his invention has become a global staple, but was his name also left out like so many inventors who looked like him? 📚

And now, decades later, some still get labeled as “great workers” but are never seen as the ones who lead the team, build the vision, or sit at the top. And, if you have ever felt that way at your current job, rock with me. 🙌🏿 🧠💼

We say “all men are created equal” in this country, but when will that be true in every room, every board, and every opportunity?

And if you’ve never felt that gap, maybe it’s not that it doesn’t exist or just never existed for you.

You’ve likely sat in one of his inventions this year and may be sitting in one now.

🪑 But you probably didn’t know you were sitting on Black Excellence and legacy.

Now, don’t just read this and not make sure that the world hears about it.

📲 Send this to someone who sets up the chairs at church.
👵🏾 Tag your grandma who still has folding chairs from ‘87.
💬 Drop it in a group chat full of event planners or teachers.

If you learned something new today, please follow this page. That’s how we keep real history alive.

We don’t just sit in seats, we build them.



07/26/2025

Greatness is quiet consistency, not loud arrival.

💦 Who ruled the block on hot summer days?Was it the fastest runner, the one with the best aim, or the kid who showed up ...
07/26/2025

💦 Who ruled the block on hot summer days?
Was it the fastest runner, the one with the best aim, or the kid who showed up with the Super Soaker?

Let’s be real. If you had one, you were the MVP of every backyard fun. No hose could match it, nor could a water balloon stop it.

But did you ever stop to ask:

Who created the Super Soaker or engineered all that summer joy?

💡 His name is Lonnie Johnson, and he's more than just a toy inventor.

He’s a rocket scientist and a former NASA engineer. 👨🏾‍🚀 He worked on space missions…then accidentally built one of the most iconic toys in human history.

While working on an energy system, he tested a nozzle that blasted water with pressure, which gave him the idea for the Super Soaker.

The result?
💰 Over $1 BILLION in sales.
🌍 Generations of kids soaked in joy.
📚 But somehow… have you heard about him, or has he been omitted from the textbooks?

Should they start teaching that this Brotha built your favorite childhood memories and that play and genius aren’t opposites but are often the same thing?

Lonnie Johnson didn’t just make a toy.
He made history, one water blast at a time.

📲 Tag your old water war rival.
👧🏾 Send this to your niece who just got her first Super Soaker.
💬 Drop it in the group chat with all the 90s babies.

And if this made you smile, proud, or taught you something new, feel free to follow the page because this is the history we deserved growing up.

💦 Joy
🚀 Brilliance
🔊 Legacy





07/26/2025

They Never Taught Us This: The Truth You’ll Want to Download Below 👇🏾

07/26/2025

This Isn’t Just a Vacation Spot… It’s a Mirror 🪞🇵🇭

🤔 Ever been dismissed because of where you came from?🙏🏾 Ever felt like your voice didn’t belong in “their” spaces…But de...
07/25/2025

🤔 Ever been dismissed because of where you came from?

🙏🏾 Ever felt like your voice didn’t belong in “their” spaces…
But deep down, you knew your story wasn’t just valid —
…it was divine?

Then meet the woman who turned pain into prophecy.

Who wasn’t supposed to speak —
…but ended up writing a whole spiritual book in the 1700s. 📖✨

Her name? Rosa Egipcíaca.

🕊️ Born in West Africa.
🚢 Trafficked to Brazil.
🩸 Survived slavery, abuse, and silence.

But instead of breaking —
She heard from God. Loud and clear.

📿 While they tried to erase her…
She grabbed a quill and said:
“Y’all can keep your robes. I got a revelation.” 👁️🔥

She became the first Black woman in Latin America to publish a religious text.
Let that marinate:
A formerly enslaved woman…
in colonial Brazil…
writing about angels, redemption, and sacred visions —
in a world that barely saw her as human.

Churches didn’t know what to do.
Courts called her a threat.
And the haters? They stayed mad. 😤

But Rosa?
She was out here giving 1700s Holy Spirit TED Talks
without a mic, a seminary degree, or a single care for approval. 🎙️📜✨

She didn’t ask for a pulpit.
She became one.

And centuries later, her words still echo like incense in a cathedral.

💡 So the next time they say you’re too much…
Too loud… too broken… too complicated…

Just smile and say:
“I’m in good company. Rosa Egipcíaca walked through fire — and wrote it down.”

📲 Slide this into that one group chat.
📚 Text your cousin who thinks they know Black history.
👑 Let this name live again — because Rosa didn’t just survive history.
She rewrote it.













👀 What if the movement was already on volume 10…before the dude history hyped even found the microphone?What if the REAL...
07/25/2025

👀 What if the movement was already on volume 10…
before the dude history hyped even found the microphone?

What if the REAL blueprint of Pan-Africanism…
wore heels, dragged colonizers with class,
and made powdered wigs slip with one side-eye? 👑😂

Y’all keep shouting “Garvey!” like the man started everything…

Meanwhile, Liberia was already on fire like:
💪🏾 “Blyden BEEN doing squats with this ideology, fam — since 1870!”

📜 Edward Wilmot Blyden was out here dropping Pan-African bars before Marcus Garvey’s mama even picked his baby name.

And THEN — let’s talk about the real queenpin behind the revolution:

Amy Ashwood Garvey — who did more in a week
than most colonizers did in their whole powdered careers. 💅🏾😂

Before Marcus had speeches,
Amy had a strategy.
While he was writing manifestos…
Sis was booking community halls, collecting receipts,
and making grown men sweat like they were wearing a wool 3-piece suit in a Kingston church with no A/C. 😅🏽⛪🔥

👂“Who invited her?”
Everyone — because she was the one running the meeting.
She was NOT the background singer in Garvey’s solo.

She co-founded the freakin’ UNIA at 17 years old.
Y’all were out here playing hopscotch — Amy was organizing a revolution. 🧠📚

And when men tried to take all the credit,
Amy just turned, sipped her tea, and said:
“Baby, I built the table. You just got the mic.” 🎤😂

She went global before global was trending:
✈️ Jamaica. Harlem. London. Liberia. Ghana. Nigeria.
Sis had more stamps on her passport than your favorite travel influencer.

📡 She connected the diaspora before y’all could even spell it right.
(Yes, we heard you say “die-uh-spora.” We cringed. 😩)

Amy wasn’t just Marcus Garvey’s first wife —
she was his first co-conspirator.
The matchstick. The strategist.
The one who organized the vision before it had a podium.

🔥 And when the marriage ended?
She didn’t cry.
She colonized opportunity.
She said, “Love may fade, but revolution don’t.” 😤❤️‍🔥

🎭 Helped start West Africa’s FIRST national theater.
🇳🇬 Organized women in Nigeria.
🇬🇭 Built bridges in Ghana.
📚 Educated minds across continents.

Sis didn’t ask for applause.
She demanded liberation. 🙌🏾

So when people say “Black women supported the movement…”
Correct them.

Amy Ashwood Garvey was the movement.
She passed the mic after she built the damn stage. 🎤🧱🔥

📲 Drop this in the group chat.
Text your cousin who thinks Garvey did it alone.
And next time someone says “Pan-Africanism,”
just whisper softly:

“Amy. Ashwood. Garvey. The Original Disruptor.” 👑














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Henry Johnson Jr is a Liberian-born American 🇺🇲️🇱🇷Freelance Writer, Musician, Actor, Filmmaker, World Traveler, Humanitarian, Social Activist, and Producer; he's also a graduate of the Colorado Film School and the University of Denver, Colorado (CU). He's the writer of two well-published books, Liberian Son Vol One and Two. Henry Johnson Jr grew up in Aurora, Colorado, and spend most of his life there, and has traveled the world, from Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Germany, Belgium, Japan, The Philippines, Hong Kong, and to Thailand. In early 2013 he founded 1847 Films to help promote Liberia's Film Industry. In 2014, he graduated (Colorado Film School) CFS with an Associate Degree in General Studies of the Arts.

Colorado Film School is one of the top 25th Film Schools in the United States and the world. In early 2017, he founded Ethno Records, an international record and film production company. On May 13th, 2017, he graduated from the University of Colorado Denver with honors (Cum Laude), with a Bachelor's Degree in Communications and a minor in Political Science. In November of 2017, a short Thai Film (Mother's Home) that he acted in won the best Thai and Japanese Short and also earned him an award for BEST ACTOR. While in Thailand, he was invited to the Thai parliament to have a sit-in on Thai Tourism and Film Industry. For more info, please contact HJ. 🇺🇲️🇱🇷️️