John H. Johnson

Early years and education

John H. Johnson was born in Arkansas City, Arkansas, to parents Gertrude (died 1977) and Leroy Johnson (died 1926) both the children of slaves. Leroy died in 1926 in a sawmill accident. Gertrude worked as a cook in a Mississippi river levee camp, and was passionate about education. In 1927 Johnson lived through the Great Mississippi flood which displaced him and his family. As a child, he lived on the levee and observed racial dynamics firsthand. Johnson had a half-sister from his mother named Beulah, she would join a religious organization who followed a man named Father Divine and would disappear, dying sometime in the 40s. Gertrude Johnson would remarry Johnson's step father, who died 1961, some years after Leroy's death. In the process of completing middle school, Johnson and his mother spent a year in Vicksburg in 1930 where he attended St. Mary's Catholic school. Johnson attended a segregated school and completed middle school in 1932. He then repeated the 8th grade to save up to move to Chicago to further his education.

His family moved to Chicago at the time of the 1933 Chicago World's Fair, during the Great Migration of African Americans out of the South. To make the move possible Gertrude left her husband in Arkansas, though they would later reunite. His family spent many years living on welfare, this would be, according to Johnson, one of his biggest motivators. After his move to Chicago he initially attended Wendell Phillips High School. After it burned down he moved to DuSable High School. His classmates at DuSable included Nat King Cole, Redd Foxx, and Harold Washington. This only fueled his already formidable determination to "make something of himself." Johnson's high-school career was distinguished by the leadership qualities he demonstrated as student council president, as editor of the school newspaper and class yearbook, leader of the student forum, and president of the French club. He started studying self-improvement books to become a better speaker. During his graduation ceremony Johnson would give the only student speech, this speech was picked up by the Chicago Defender, at which point Johnson would change his name to John Harold Johnson.

After he graduated with honors in 1936, he was offered a scholarship to the University of Chicago. Although tuition was fully covered, other expenses were not. Because of his achievements in high school, Johnson was invited to speak at a dinner held by the Urban League. When Harry Pace, president of the Supreme Life Insurance Company, heard Johnson's speech, he was so impressed with him that he offered Johnson a job so that he would be able to use the scholarship.

Johnson began as an office boy at Supreme Life in 1936, and within two years had become Pace's assistant. His duties included preparing a monthly digest of newspaper articles. By 1939, he was editing Supreme Life's in-house magazine and dropped out of college that same year, taking on a full-time role at SLL by 1941. Johnson would drop out of college around 1939 at which point he was working full time at SLL. While at SLL Johnson met Earl Dickerson, a prominent lawyer and activist in the Chicago Black community. This connection to Dickerson led to Johnson being named to assist in his campaign for alderman of Chicago's Second Ward, against William L. Johnson. After assisting in Dickerson's campaign Johnson was named political secretary.

His working compiling and gathering news exposed him to Black newspapers around the country, and Johnson became an informal source of news in the Black community. Johnson began to wonder if others might not enjoy the same type of service. He conceived of a publication patterned after Reader's Digest. His work at Supreme Life also gave him the opportunity to see the day-to-day operations of a business owned by an African American and fostered his dream of starting a business of his own.. He eventually met his wife Eunice Walker in 1940 while she was attending Loyola University for a master's degree in social work. They got married on June 21, 1941, in Selma, Alabama, and would adopt 2 children John Harold Johnson Jr in 1956 and Linda Johnson in 1958, Johnson Junior would pass away at the age of 25 in 1981 from sickle cell anemia.

Other ventures

Johnson marks his addition into the National Urban League as the beginning of his foray into the world of big business. Johnson served as the sponsor for the American Black Achievement Award Show throughout his life. In the late 50s a Woman named Ernestine Dent asked Johnson to help fund a fashion show called the Ebony Fashion Fair, he funded the venture solely, receiving only the cost of the 3 dollar Ebony subscription that came with it, the rest would go to charity. The show toured over 200 cities across the United States, Canada, and the Caribbean, raising between $47 and $51 million for the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) and other Black charities.

Johnson Publishing also has a book division with the release of Before the Mayflower by Lerone Bennett in 1959, which employed more than 2,600 people, with sales of over $388 million. The most well known release from this division was his biography that he wrote with Lerone Bennett called Succeeding Against the Odds which released in 1993. In 1971 Johnson was added to the 20th Century Fox board of directors, when the company went private he was the only one to remain on the board because of his work. His work on the Fox board would become well known and would result in his inclusion on the boards of Greyhound Corp and Bell and Howell. He would serve for many years on the special executive board of these corporations. In addition to the executive positions he also held board positions on Zenith, Continental Bank, Dillards Department Stores, and Chrysler. Johnson would also begin purchasing shares of SLL throughout the 70s and 80s and would eventually become the majority shareholder and the CEO. Another significant venture of Johnson's was creating a cosmetic line for Black women, he first approached Estée Lauder and Revlon who surreptitiously turned him down. He then decided to launch his own line in 1973 called Fashion Fair Cosmetics and Supreme Beauty Products to fill the gap he had noticed. As he did with all of his business ventures he turned to guerrilla tactics to get the brand rolling. His brand would make its way into the Chicago and New York City malls where he would again pay people to buy out initial shipments. His next task was selling in the south, he would do this by going uninvited to a luncheon to honor Neiman-Marcus CEO Herbert Marcus where he would set up a meeting with him. His meeting would consist of dinner and a visit to the traveling Fashion Fair show that happened to be in Dallas at the time. This day would secure his inclusion in Neiman-Marcus south. His connections to the Dillards board and CEO would further his expansion into the south.

Johnson would further his expansion by starting a division in Paris. He would begin investing, buying a house in Palm Springs in 1968. He was also forced to move his Chicago headquarters around the same time, moving 10 blocks away to 820 South Michigan, which served as the final headquarters for the company. Furthering his investing he would purchase a hotel, an indoor parking lot, an outdoor parking structure, 2 warehouse buildings, and fund 97 percent of a government sponsored middle income complex called Lawless gardens. At the invention of cable, Johnson would join a group with 15 major investors for the group that wired the entire city of Chicago. Johnson bought a radio station in 1973 and renamed it the WJPC, which was the first black owned radio station in Chicago. He also purchased WLOU in Louisville though these AM stations would soon become irrelevant due to FM radio. To break into FM radio Johnson would purchase a small station outside of Chicago that was still able to be heard from inside the city, as all the station in the city were blocked to him because he was Black. Continuing his expansion Johnson wanted to break into Television, he would do this by hosting 2 award shows, the Ebony Music Awards, the precursor to programs like BET. His second award show was the American Black Achievements Award Show. He also had a weekly variety broadcast called the Ebony/Jet showcase which was run by Linda Johnson. Johnson would also start the EM magazine for Black men and become a 20% shareholder in Essence, a magazine for Black women. In 1971 Tan would get a rebrand as Black Stars.

Another Idea of Johnsons was Ebony Jr. made to fill another gap he saw, for a kids magazine similar to Highlights. Launched in 1973 to foster African-American children's identity, racial pride, and values, Ebony Jr. included stories like “A Christmas Blessing” (1982), which promoted generosity by aiding a homeless woman, and “Turkey Wings” (1984), which encouraged cultural awareness by linking to Native American traditions. It taught education, honesty, family loyalty, class consciousness, and progressive gender roles. It ceased publication in 1985, reflecting challenges in Black children's literature. Ebony Jr. empowered Black youth with values and identity, but its 1985 closure marked a decline in Black children's literature.