Founder of the Johnson Publishing Company

John Harold Johnson founded the Johnson Publishing Company in 1942, an international media and cosmetics empire that includes Ebony and Jet magazines, Fashion Fair Cosmetics and EBONY Fashion Fair. Johnson was the first black person to appear on the Forbes 400 Rich List, and had a fortune estimated at close to $600 million. Johnson served on the Board of Directors of Dillard’s Inc., and he has served on the boards of First Commercial Bank, Little Rock; Dial Corporation; Zenith Radio Corporation; and Chrysler Corporation.

John H. Johnson was born on January 19, 1918 in Arkansas City, Arkansas. He later moved to Chicago, Illinois with his family in the 1930s, where he attended Wendell Phillips High with classmates Nat King Cole and Redd Foxx.

He briefly attended both University of Chicago and Northwestern University,m where Johnson was a prominent member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc., the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African Americans. After his time at Chicago and Northwestern, he began a magazine called The Negro Digest in 1942. The Negro Digest was the prototype for Ebony, which is still published and widely read today.

Johnson began his publishing and cosmetics conglomerate with a mere $500 dollars, borrowed against his mother’s home furnishings. In one generation, Johnson achieved the American Dream. From his background as an impoverished African-American southerner, he became one of the wealthiest Americans of his time. Several factors contributed to his success. Failure is a word that Johnson does not accept, and the advice he offers to young people is this:”Start where they are with what they have and that the secret of a big success is starting with a small success and dreaming bigger and bigger dreams.”

Howard University renamed their School of Communications after Johnson and awarded him an honorary doctor of humane letters degree. He passed away on August 8, 2005.

National Visionary Leadership Project’s profile of John H. Johnson.

John H. Johnson’s profile on the African American Registry.