The first issue of Ebony magazine was published this month 60 years ago. With $500 borrowed on his mother’s furniture to finance the first publication, John H. Johnson launched what would become the catalyst for a communications empire – magazines, book publishing and cosmetics.
Ebony has been the largest black-owned magazine every year since its creation in 1945. Each year, the publication continues to provide the black community with an exceptional reflection of African-American culture.
Johnson was born to Leroy Johnson and Gertrude Jenkins Johnson in Arkansas City, Ark. on Jan. 19, 1918. Even during his youth, he was faced with the task of overcoming life’s adversities – poverty and, at age 8, the death of his father in a sawmill accident.
Despite being advised against attempting to enter the publishing business by civil rights leader Roy Wilkins, Johnson decided to pursue his vision. In 1942, just after the end of World War II, he founded Johnson Publishing Co. It was a time of segregation and prejudice.Dr. Mae Rodney, director of the O’Kelly Library, recalled Ebony’s value in the days before full rights of citizenship were extended to African Americans.
“It was just nice to know that you could see your image,” Rodney said. “It was really looked forward to, and it was an unusual experience to see your own image, the image of people who looked just like you.”
Rodney believes that Ebony has played a very important historical role in African-American publishing and culture. She said she appreciates the struggles that Johnson endured and has also been very impressed with how the Johnson family has changed the image of the magazine to reflect the times, keeping it of interest to the present generation.
Johnson died August 8 at the age of 87 at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago after an extended illness. During his long life, he earned many award and titles, including Publisher of the Year by the Magazine Publishers Association, Most Outstanding Black Publisher in History by the National Newspaper Publishers Association, The Greatest Minority Entrepreneur in U.S. History by Baylor University.
He also 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.” Howard University named its communications school the John H. Johnson School of Communications.
Johnson’s legacy is beyond measure. His life tells the story of a real “American dream,” and provides others with the inspiration to rise above hardships and reach for success.