John Johnson Ebony Magazine Interview

John Harold Johnson (January 19, 1918 – August 8, 2005) was an American businessman and publisher. He was the founder of the Johnson Publishing Company. In 1982, he became the first African-American to appear on the Forbes 400.

Johnson was born in rural Arkansas City, Arkansas, the grandson of slaves. When he was eight years old, his father died in a sawmill accident and Johnson was raised by his mother and stepfather. He attended an overcrowded and segregated elementary school. Such was his love of learning, he repeated the eighth grade rather than discontinue his education, as there was no public high school for African Americans in his community.

After a visit with his mother to the Chicago World's Fair, they decided that opportunities in the North were more plentiful than in the South. Facing poverty on every side in Arkansas during the Great Depression, the family moved to Chicago, Illinois in 1933 to try to find work and for Johnson to continue his education. Johnson entered all-black DuSable High School while his mother and stepfather scoured the city for jobs during the day. He looked for work after school and during the summer as well, but without success. His mother was not even able to find any domestic work, which was generally available when all else failed. To support themselves, the family applied for welfare, which they received for two years until Johnson's stepfather was finally able to obtain a position with the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and Johnson himself secured a job with the National Youth Administration (NYA).

Johnson endured much teasing and taunting at his high school for his ragged clothes and country ways, as he encountered something he never knew existed: middle-class blacks. At DuSable High School some of his classmates included Nat King Cole, Redd Foxx and future entrepreneur William Abernathy. 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 and as editor of the school newspaper and class yearbook. He attended high school during the day and studied self-improvement books at night. After he graduated in 1936, he was offered a tuition scholarship to the University of Chicago, but he thought he would have to decline it, because he could not figure out a way to pay for expenses other than tuition. Because of his achievements in high school, Johnson was invited to speak at a dinner held by the Urban League. When Harry Pace, the president of the Supreme Life Insurance Company, heard Johnson's speech, he was so impressed with the young man that he offered Johnson a job so that he would be able to use the scholarship.Read more

One of America’s wealthiest entrepreneurs, John H. Johnson rose from the welfare rolls of the Depression to become the most successful Black businessman in American history; the founder of Ebony, Jet, and EM magazines; and a member of the Forbes 400. Like the man himself, this autobiography is brash, inspirational, and truly unforgettable.