08/04/2026
Remembering Our Board Chair, Dr. Johanna Fernández
The A.J. Muste Foundation for Peace and Justice mourns the loss of our board chair, Dr. Johanna Fernández, who passed away on July 31, 2026.
Johanna brought extraordinary moral clarity to everything she did. As chair of the Muste Foundation since 2021, Johanna taught us that supporting grassroots organizing was never simply about making grants—it was about standing firmly with people challenging injustice, especially when doing so was difficult. Her principled commitment to social justice activism shaped our board, strengthened our mission, and challenged all of us to live our values more
boldly.
A renowned historian, award-winning author of "The Young Lords: A Radical History," educator, and public intellectual, Johanna devoted her life to uncovering suppressed histories, defending political dissent, and amplifying the voices of those too often excluded from the historical record. She fought a landmark Freedom of Information lawsuit against the NYPD that uncovered long-"lost" Handschu surveillance files and informed her groundbreaking history of the Young Lords. She was a tireless advocate for political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal, preserving and elevating his work through books, film, and the donation of his papers to Brown University. Even in her final years, Johanna continued building institutions for future generations through the Latinx Freedom Movement Archive and Exhibition Project, ensuring the history of Latinx activism would not be erased.
"Johanna Fernández was the moral compass of the Muste Foundation," said Executive Director Heidi Boghosian. "She showed us what it means to pair deep conviction with action, and we pledge to honor her commitment to supporting community groups doing mighty resistance work with few resources."
Board member and former student Xavier Fitzsimmons-Cruz reflected on Johanna's enduring influence: "Johanna Fernández always pushed us to see the revolutionary potential out of the anger, despair and darkness of our current political moment. She never backed down from the possibility of a better, kinder world worth fighting for.
The Foundation will honor Johanna at its annual Rebel Soiree on November 5, 2026.
freemumia.com
