William Henry Fitzjohn, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

William Henry Fitzjohn

Date of Birth: 05-Nov-1915

Place of Birth: Mattru Jong, Sierra Leone

Date of Death: 28-Jan-1990

Profession: diplomat

Zodiac Sign: Scorpio

William Henry Fitzjohn (5 November 1915 – 20 December 1989) was a Sierra Leonean churchman, educator and diplomat. In 1946 he was Ordained into the Ministry of Evangelical United Brethren Church (Dayton, Ohio). From 1950 to 1959 he taught Educational Sociology and Religion, Fourah Bay College, University of Durham. From 1951 to 1959 he was Member of the Sierra Leone House of Parliament. From 1950 to 1959 he was associate minister King memorial, Evangelical United Brethren church. From 1959 to 1961 he was Chargé d'affaires in Washington, D.C.
Early in the spring of 1961, a snub turned into an international incident, when William Fitzjohn, charge d'affaires for Sierra Leone in Washington, en route to Pittsburgh for a lecture, stopped for dinner with his driver at a Howard Johnson restaurant on the outskirts of Hagerstown.
Both men were refused service because of their color.
President John F.
Kennedy, appalled by what had transpired, received Fitzjohn in the White House.
The president of Howard Johnson's apologized for the snub while the mayor of Hagerstown, Winslow F.
Burhans, invited him to a dinner with several of the city's leading citizens. From 1961 to 1964 he was High Commissioner (Commonwealth) in London (United Kingdom). in 1962 he became Director of Sierra Leone Selection Trust Ltd. From November 1971 to 1976 he was High Commissioner in Lagos.