Percy Johnston (May 18, 1930 – March 20, 1993) was raised in DC and co-founded the Howard Poets with Oswald Govan, and went on to publish Dasein, a philosophical and literary journal that was an outgrowth and expansion of that original collective. Johnston served in the US Air Force in Japan and Korea, and survived the crash of a C-54 which killed 31 in September 1950. He attended Howard University, where he earned a BA and an MA in English, and lived in the area until 1968. He also attended St. Peters College, Long Island University, Montclair State College, and the New School for Social Research. Johnston founded Jupiter Hammon Press in New York to publish works by authors of African descent. He is the author of three books of poems: Concerto for Girl and Convertible (1960), Sean Pendragon Requiem (1964), and Six Cylinder Olympus (1964) and over ten plays that were produced off-Broadway, including “Dessalines, A Jazz Tragedy.” In addition, Johnston edited Afro-American Philosophies: Selected Readings from Jupiter Hammon to Eugene C. Holmes (1970), and wrote the nonfiction books Phenomenology of Space & Time: An Examination of Eugene Clay Holmess Studies in the Philosophy of Time and Space (1976), and William Shakespeare: Pioneer of Modern Free Verse (1977).