John H.Johnson

As a small boy growing up in Arkansas City, Arkansas, John Harold Johnson nurtured big dreams. You might think having darker skin than other children would have held him back from achieving those dreams, but you’d be wrong. He was undeterred by potential obstacles like race and poverty. He followed his dreams, and found a way to go from government assistance as a child, to the Forbes list of 400 richest Americans as a grown man.

By publishing two magazines of his own, Ebony and Jet as well as helming a beauty products company, Johnson positioned himself as a boss. He started these businesses with a $500 loan from his mother after she let him use the family furniture as collateral. This small investment paid off tremendously. At the time of Johnson’s death in 2005 at the age of 87, he had accumulated a fortune worth over $600 million dollars.

His ingenuity and tenacity showed up early in Johnson’s life. He gave speeches and even landed a job working for Supreme Life Insurance Company head Harry Pace, which paid his college expenses. Once out of college, Johnson excelled at business. He sought challenge after challenge, and confidently relied on the power of his own mind to learn whatever he needed to learn to succeed. He did not forsake anything and kept his mind trained on taking on new goals.

His first publication, Negro Digest, was made possible by his mother’s loan. The first edition came out in 1942. Using his charisma and overall intelligence, Johnson persuaded another businessman, Joseph Levy, to help him distribute the magazine. Within six months, Negro Digest had 50,000 subscribers.

Craving new challenges, Johnson went on to found Ebony and Jet in quick succession, both of which were tremendously successful. Ebony’s first run sold out its 25,000 copies. It featured articles with the look and feel of Life magazine, only with black faces instead of white, and it quickly began to cover individual rights marches, domestic and foreign affairs, and economic issues facing black Americans from every socio-economic background, poor to affluent.

Johnson worked tirelessly and intelligently on his projects. He knew he could attain riches well beyond what most people would expect from the grandson of slaves. He never allowed the pursuit of those riches to get in the way of building his businesses to stand the test of time.

Johnson was a gentleman, but also a wise publisher with the courage to make the groundbreaking decision to show the horrifyingly disfigured body of Emmett Till in a 1955 edition of Jet. Because of this one decision, Johnson was heralded as a catalyst for the Individual Rights Movement in America.

Johnson’s shrewd decision-making also paved the way for his journey to financial security as well. He was in business to make money, of course, but he could also sense the winds of real change swirling around black America, and he knew that he could lend his talent to that cause. He understood his audience wanted to be entertained, but also educated. So he used his flagship publications to achieve both ends.

Johnson won many honors in his life, for entrepreneurship and advocacy. He accepted the Horatio Alger Award, The Wall Street Journal Dow Jones Entrepreneurial Excellence Award, and President Bill Clinton honored him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Later honors included a John H. Johnson Day, to encourage the development of a museum where his family home once stood in Arkansas.

John H. Johnson’s life is another example proving the American Dream can be achieved through smart work and intelligence, charm and elegance. His life was not just one of black excellence, but greatness overall.