In the summer of 1982, Johnson led seven other women from around the country in a dramatic public hunger strike in Springfield, Illinois. The group targeted Illinois because it was the only Northern industrial state that hadn't ratified the Equal Rights Amendment. During the "Women`s Fast for ERA", the feminist activists kept daily vigils in the rotunda of the capitol, but the amendment eventually failed in the Illinois House on June 22. The group broke its 37-day, water-only fast with a round of grape juice.