Post by Journey2herpast on Oct 22, 2005 22:47:07 GMT -5
John H. Johnson, who used his mother's furniture as security for a $500 loan to start the business empire that eventually included Ebony and Jet magazines and that made him one of the nation's richest and most powerful black businessmen, died yesterday in Chicago. He was 87.
Johnson built the world's largest black-owned publishing empire. He is the founder and publisher of Negro Digest, Ebony and JET magazines. He also owns Ebony Cosmetics as well as radio and TV production companies.
John Johnson controled the nation's largest black-owned company, which has revenues in excess of $140 million. Publisher of Ebony, Jet, and EM, Johnson also engages in other businesses, including Fashion Fair Cosmetics, Ebone Cosmetics, Supreme Beauty products, and three radio stations. He also sponsors the American Black Achievement Awards television program and the Ebony Fashion Fair—a touring fashion show now in its 38th year. He attributes much of his success to his mother, who believed that if you try hard enough, there is always a chance you can win.
His mother gave him that chance when Johnson was a young student in offered blacks no schooling beyond the eighth grade. Johnson's mother, a widow, saved for two years to finance their move to Chicago so that he could continue his high school education. Johnson was an honor student and served as class and student council president and newspaper and yearbook editor.
While attending the University of Chicago at night, Johnson spent his days as an office boy at Supreme Life Insurance Company. His job was to summarize the daily news about the black community and report it to Supreme's president. This led Johnson to the thought of creating a magazine for a black readership.
Negro Digest, first published in 1942, was financed originally with $500 that Johnson's mother, then a seamstress, raised by pawning their furniture. Johnson spent it on a mailing to 20,000 potential subscribers, 3,000 of whom sent in $2 to receive the magazine. Johnson was on his way. To overcome the resistance of newsstand distributors, he got friends to ask for the magazine, whipping up demand for this new publication. In less than a year, Negro Digest's circulation swelled from 5,000 to 50,000.
In 1945, Johnson started his second magazine, Ebony, which focused on black successes and achievement. Today, this preeminent publication reaches about 42 percent of all black American adults. Other magazines to follow were Jet, a weekly news magazine that has been published now for more than 40 years, and EM: Ebony Man, a "fashionableliving" magazine for black men, which was started 11 years ago.
Johnson clearly enjoys his work and has no plans for retirement. "You spend so much time in your profession," says Johnson, "it ought to be something you love." Johnson's advice to young adults is to "dream small dreams. If you make them too big, you get overwhelmed and you don't do anything. If you make small goals and accomplish them, it gives you the confidence to go on to higher goals."
Johnson says his Horatio Alger Award "validates what I set out to do. It gave me credibility. People have great respect for the award and the people who receive it. It is very important to me."
Mr. Johnson had major holdings in book and magazine publishing, cosmetics, television and radio and in 1982 was the first African-American on Forbes magazine's list of the 400 wealthiest Americans.
He sometimes said he was in the business of inspiring people, heralding achievements like the first black woman to become a Rhodes scholar or the black man who sent three daughters through medical school. But his publications could also bristle with indignation over the sting of racial discrimination, as reflected by a 1965 cover: "The White Problem in America."
As the magazines that Ebony used as models, Life and Look, slipped away, Ebony maintained a large presence in black households and last year had a circulation of 1.6 million. Mr. Johnson also published other magazines, including EM (Ebony Man) and Ebony Jr. His company's Fashion Fair Cosmetics brand is among the leading makeup and skin-care companies for women with darker skin.
