Prior to being elected the first African-American Mayor of the City of Jackson, Mississippi in June of 1997, Mayor Johnson dedicated much of his time and expertise to helping economically depressed small towns with minority leadership obtain basic necessities such as water and sewer service. As the founder and executive director of the Mississippi Institute for Small Towns, a nonprofit agency, Mayor Johnson helped a number of towns in the Mississippi Delta with housing, community development and infrastructure needs.

In addition, Mayor Johnson continuously gives back to the community by serving as a mentor at Rowan Middle School, and a positive role model to inner-city children.

His professional attributes include more than 25 years of experience in the field of planning and community development. He also has served as assistant professor of political science at Jackson State University, where he taught graduate level courses in public administration and directed the Center for Technology Transfer. He was a Captain in the United States Air Force and he is a former member of the Mississippi State Tax Commission and the Mississippi Gaming Commission. In addition, he has worked as a manager at the former Mississippi Research and Development Center.

Since his 1997 election, Mayor Johnson has worked hard to put the City of Jackson into a development mode. His efforts have paid off. Currently there is over 400 million dollars of development planned or underway for the downtown area alone. The city's train station is being renovated into a beautiful new state of the art multi-modal transportation center that will house trains, buses, taxies, limousines, retail shops and restaurants. Farish Street, one of the nation's oldest African American neighborhoods, had fallen into a state of decay and decline. It is now being developed into a premier entertainment district that will rival Beale Street in Memphis. Construction will soon begin on a state of the art, high tech Telecommunications and Training Center unlike anything else in the southeastern United States. The construction of the Metro Parkway is transforming the area around Jackson State University, removing dilapidated houses and blight that have surrounded the campus for years.

Mayor Johnson serves on the Democratic National Committee, a member of the U.S. Conference of Mayors Security Homeland Task Force, President of the National Conference of Black Mayors, Inc., the National Conference of Democratic Mayors and the American Legion Tyner-Ford Post 213. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Mississippi Municipal League, Metro Jackson Chamber of Commerce, National Urban Fellows, Inc., and is a former member of the Commission on Colleges for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

Mayor Johnson has served on the Board of Directors of Union Planters Bank of Central Mississippi, Smith Robertson Museum and Cultural Center, the American Red Cross, New Stage Theater, the Mississippi Housing Finance Corporation, the Arts Alliance of Jackson/Hinds County, the Metropolitan YMCA and the Reader's Editorial Board for a daily newspaper. Mayor Johnson is a member of Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity and a charter member of 100 Black Men of Jackson, Incorporated. He also served in local, state and regional positions for Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.

Mayor Johnson is married to Kathy Ezell Johnson and they have two adult children, Harvey III, and Sharla. He is a member of Hope Spring Missionary Baptist Church.