Dorothy Hodge [Davis] Johnson was born on January 21, 1916 to John A. and Anna B. Hodge. A lifelong Kansas Citian, Dorothy graduated from Sumner High School in 1933. Her father, J.A. Hodge, served as principal of Sumner High from 1916-1950. Hodge entered the University of Kansas where she met Dowdal H. Davis. The two were married in 1937 on Thanksgiving Day. Dowdal H. Davis, Jr., was the son of an Independence physician. Before his death in 1957, Mr. Davis had held dozens of civic posts, championed numerous political and social causes and gained national attention as a journalist, civil servant, and leader.

Davis graduated from the University of Kanas with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1936. By the end of his professional career, he had served as general manager of the Call, a Missouri weekly, and as president of the Negro Newspaper Publishers Association (now known as the National Newspaper Publishers Association, or the Black Press of America). Other posts held by Davis include serving on the national board of directors for the National Urban League. Dowdal Davis' political career included a series of important appointments. In 1947, he was appointed to the Board of Advisory Trustees for Kansas City's 47 million dollar bond issue. After a failed attempt to gain a city council sear in 1951, Mr. Davis was named to the President's Committee on Government Contracts by Harry S. Truman. In 1957, Dowdal Davis became the first African American member of the Police Board of Commissioners for Kansas City, Missouri. Later that year, Davis succumbed to a heart attack. He had no children but was survived by his wife of 20 years, Dorothy Hodge Davis.

Dorothy graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Kansas in 1936 with an A.B. degree in journalism. Her early professional career included service at the Kansas City Call, 1938-1944, and the regional office of the Office of Price Stabilization, 1944-1951. Mrs. Davis, long involved in social concerns, became executive director of the Florence Crittenden Home for Colored Girls.

After the death of her husband, Dowdal Davis, in 1957, Dorothy continued her post at the Florence Home as well as activitities with the Urban League and the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. In 1960, Mrs. Davis married Herman A. Johnson, a realtor, Urban League offical, and later Missouri State Representative. In the same year, she earned her Masters of Social Work degreee from the University of Kansas.

Dorothy Hodge Johnson engaged in a long and distinguished career in social work. Before her retirement in 1984, Johnson served as a caseworker, director of the Department of Health and Welfare, Jackson County, Missouri, and on the board and executive committee of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City, among other service positions to other Kansas City area foundations and non-profit organizations.