WATERLOO - A local pioneer of the American civil rights movement has died.

Elra Johnson, the granddaughter of a slave who participated in the "Freedom Summer" voting rights crusade in Mississippi in 1964, died Wednesday at Parkview Nursing and Rehab. She was 102.

Johnson, a longtime resident of Tchula, Miss., in Holmes County, came to Waterloo and lived here for 20 years to be close to her son. She was part of the Mississippi Summer Freedom Project in 1964 and helped organize voting-rights demonstrations and marches. She faced physical threats from hooded Ku Klux Klan members who burned a cross in front of her home, and she was jailed more than once for her efforts.

"Everywhere we went and went to talking to the black people about what to and what not to do, they put us in jail. But what did I care?" she said in a 2006 Courier interview. "I got what it takes, baby."

Despite threats, she stood with Fannie Lou Hamer as a member of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party as its delegation sought seats at the 1964 Democratic National Convention. She testified in Washington, D.C., hearings before passage of landmark civil rights legislation under President Lyndon Johnson.

The matriarch of the American civil rights movement, Rosa Parks, stayed at Johnson's home once during voter registration drives in Mississippi.

In 1968 and again in 1972, Johnson was elected to the Holmes County board of election commissioners.

In the summer of 1969, at the national convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, she received an award citing her "dedication, fearlessness, and self-sacrificing endeavors on behalf of all mankind, rich and poor, black and white, Christian and Jew."

Upon her 100th birthday in 2006, she was honored as the oldest living member of Payne Memorial AME Church in Waterloo.

"She's been a champion," said Melvina Scott, executive director of the African-American Historical and Cultural Museum in Waterloo. "If she were younger, she would have been involved in this election cycle."

It is important for young people to understand the contributions of people such as Johnson, and why voting is important, Scott said. "People got beat up and hosed for the right to vote," she said, adding people need to understand "how important it is for people to vote, no matter who you vote for."

Johnson recorded an oral history of her experiences for the African American Historical and Cultural Museum's "African-American Voices of the Cedar Valley" project.

Services for Johnson are 11 a.m. Monday at Payne. Sanders Funeral Service is in charge of arrangements.

Contact Pat Kinney at (319) 291-1484 or pat.kinney@wcfcourier.com