Cheryl’s Childhood

Johnson’s upbringing was defined by church rituals. While New Orleans has a significant Catholic population, Johnson and her family were active members of the Baptist church, a community which was at the center of their lives.

One of Johnson’s cherished memories is celebrating the Easter season. Beginning from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday, Johnson said it was the most solemn time of the year, and she would visit church and pray several times a week, and of course, practice for the Easter play.

When Easter Sunday finally arrived, Johnson said she would wear her best for the occasion.

“Always had a new dress, new shoes, new bonnet in your hair, new handbag,” Johnson said.

But Easter was only one of the rituals that Johnson celebrated. There were others that came before the biggest holiday of the year. Four weeks before Ash Wednesday, Johnson’s family engaged in Mardi Gras festivities, which included attending parades filled with giant character floats and carnival characters.

And Christmas certainly wasn’t forgotten by the Johnson family. For them, the winter holiday didn’t end until Jan. 6 with a King Cake: a round delicacy made with cinnamon-flavored dough covered in sweet frosting that marks the Epiphany. Its colors reflect those of Mardi Gras: green, purple, and gold.

Church rituals weren’t just the only highlights of Johnson’s childhood. She grew up in a household where homemade food was a love for her.

Her family’s labor-intensive recipes like jumbo crawfish and gumbo were always the meals which Johnson looked forward to sharing at the dinner table.

And Johnson’s family would jump at any chance to gather around the kitchen  —  like the evening that followed after her University of Iowa graduation.

Instead of eating out at a restaurant, Johnson’s family brought the food — and kitchen— to her. It was December 1980 and minus 10 degrees outside, but Johnson’s grandma still hauled all her cooking utensils and seafood ingredients from Louisiana to Iowa City to make a hot pot of her family’s homemade gumbo in her Mayflower Residence Hall kitchen.

“My friends, some of whom had graduated that day, [some of whom] wouldn’t graduate until May … boy did they come over to that little apartment in the Mayflower, and [we] had gumbo for days,” Johnson said.