Media Titan John H. Johnson Leaves a Monumental Legacy

2005-03-01
The Journal - Newcastle-upon-Tyne

John H. Johnson

John H. Johnson, who rose from poverty to create an unparalleled international media and cosmetics empire that fueled the dreams of many Americans, died August 8 at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago after an extended illness. He was 87.

The founder and publisher of EBONY and JET magazines and the chairman of Johnson Publishing Company and Fashion Fair Cosmetics succumbed during the 60th anniversary year of EBONY magazine, which, under his tireless and visionary leadership, has been the biggest Black-owned magazine for every consecutive year since its founding in 1945. In 2002, Johnson named his daughter, Linda Johnson Rice--then serving as president and chief operating officer--the CEO of the company, but retained the title of chairman and publisher. He was active in company affairs until his death. "He was in his office every day until his last illness and was alert and active until the end," Rice said. "He was the greatest salesman and CEO I have ever known, but he was also a father, friend and mentor with a great sense of humor who never stopped climbing mountains and dreaming dreams. ... This is a tremendously sad time for me personally, for my mother [Eunice W. Johnson] and my daughter Alexa, and for our company and its employees. However, we are determined to continue to move forward with the legacy he left us."

Johnson, who borrowed $500 on his mother's furniture to fund his first publication, rose in one generation from a short stint on the welfare rolls to immense influence and wealth--becoming the first African-American on Forbes list of the 400 Richest Americans. He was the most honored of all publishers, and his story is one of the greatest "American dream" success stories of all time. Johnson was a member of the Publishing Hall of Fame, the National Business Hall of Fame, the Advertising Hall of Fame and the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame. He also received the Spingarn Medal, the highest honor from the NAACP, and the Salute to Greatness Award, the highest award of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, for his enduring contribution to civil rights.

John H. Johnson dans sa jeunesse

In 1972, Johnson was named Publisher of the Year by the Magazine Publishers Association. In 1974, the National Newspaper Publishers Association named him the "Most Outstanding Black Publisher in History." In 2003, Baylor University named him the "The Greatest Minority Entrepreneur in U.S. History." In that same year, Howard University named its communications school the John H. Johnson School of Communications.

In 1995, on the 50th anniversary of the founding of EBONY magazine, the publisher received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America's highest civilian honor, from President Bill Clinton, who said Johnson gave "African-Americans a voice and a face, in his words, 'a new sense of somebody-ness,' of who they were and what they could do, at a time when they were virtually invisible in mainstream American culture."

Johnson's business acumen and commitment to the community won him directorship of major American corporations. He served first on the board of Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation and later on the boards of companies such as VIAD, Chrysler, Zenith, Conrail, Bell & Howell, Continental Bank, and Dillard Department Stores. He served as a trustee of the Art Institute of Chicago, the UNCF and the National Conference of Christians and Jews. Johnson is credited as one of the trailblazers in business and international media and is acknowledged as the first entrepreneur to recognize the colossal buying power of Black America. "He virtually invented the Black Consumer Market," says historian Lerone Bennett Jr., EBONY executive editor emeritus. "And he almost single-handedly created the foundations--the stratum of Black writers, photographers advertising and circulation specialists--for the Black magazines and Black media stars of today."

The secret of his success, by most accounts, was his indomitable spirit and his refusal to take no for an answer. He always found a way. When he was refused permission to buy a lot in downtown Chicago because of his race, he hired a White lawyer who bought the land in trust. With that purchase, Johnson became the first African-American to build a major building in downtown Chicago.

Defying the odds was his passion--the great theme of his life. "Failure," he said, "is a word I don't accept." In his best-selling autobiography, Succeeding Against the Odds , he said that the message of his life to "Blacks, to Hispanics, to Asians, to Whites, to dreamers everywhere , [was] that long shots do come in and that hard work, dedication and perseverance will overcome almost any prejudice and open almost any door."

John H. Johnson en compagnie de
sa femme (a gauche) et de
sa fille (à droite).

Born on January 19, 1918, to Leroy Johnson and Gertrude Jenkins Johnson in Arkansas City, Ark., Johnson's early life was shaped by overcoming. His father was killed in a sawmill accident when he was 8 years old, and his mother, who later married James Williams, became the central force in his life. "She believed in me and taught me to believe in myself," Johnson later said. "She taught me to dream, to dare and to never give up."

It was Johnson's mother who decided that the Jim Crow South was not a good place to raise a Black child from whom she expected greatness. There was no Black high school in the town of Johnson's birth (he repeated the eighth grade just to keep learning). To give her only son an opportunity for a better life, Johnson's mother worked as a camp cook on a levee for two years to save money for the train trip to Chicago, where Johnson and his mother lived with a friend and he went to high school. Johnson's stepfather joined the family later.

Johnson graduated from Chicago's DuSable High School in 1936, three years after arriving in the city, and worked at Supreme Liberty Life Insurance Company (he would later become chairman of the board) while studying part-time at the University of Chicago and Northwestern University. One of his duties at Supreme was to prepare a digest for company President Harry H. Pace of Black or Black-oriented stories in the American press--a duty that gave him the idea for his first magazine, Negro Digest . When he was refused a business loan from banks and other financial institutions, Johnson financed the first issue by borrowing $500 on his mother's furniture. Published for the first time in November 1942, Negro Digest was an instant success and led to the post-World War II founding of EBONY magazin e in November 1945. The first issue of EBONY sold 25,000 copies, instantly making it the largest-circulated Black magazine. Today, 60 years later, EBONY is still at the top, with a circulation of 1.6 million.

In 1951, Johnson started JET, which became the No. 1 Black newsweekly. The company continued to expand its media interests, and Johnson eventually published books, bought radio stations and produced television shows. Another triumph for the company was the Ebony Fashion Fair, the world's largest traveling fashion show, which is produced and directed by Johnson's wife, Eunice Walker Johnson, the secretary-treasurer of Johnson Publishing Co (the couple were married in 1941). Since 1958, the fashion show has raised more than $51 million for the UNCF and other community scholarship groups, making it possible for hundreds of students to attend college.

In 1973, the media entrepreneur studied by business students across the country, diversified even further with the creation of Fashion Fair Cosmetics. The cosmetics company was designed to meet the needs of African-American women by offering a complete line of high-quality beauty and skin care products for a wide variety of skin tones. Fashion Fair Cosmetics, which includes a fragrance line for both men and women, is sold in more than 2,500 upscale stores in the United States, Africa, Europe, Canada and the Caribbean.

Johnson may have climbed his last mountain, but his dreams live on in those whose lives he has and will continue to touch. "I would tell [young people] to 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," he said in his last major interview. "I would tell them also that a young Black woman or a young Black man can't dream too much today or dare too much if he or she works hard, perseveres and dedicates themselves to excellence."

Copyrigth : Ebony.com

Imprimer cette page

React

Send