Johnson, John H.

in full John Harold Johnson

(born January 19, 1918, Arkansas City, Arkansas, U.S.—d. August 8, 2005, Chicago, Illinois) magazine and book publisher, the first African American to attain major success in those fields.

Johnson's mother settled in Chicago after visiting that city during the 1933 World's Fair. The young Johnson became an honour student at Du Sable High School in Chicago, where he was managing editor of the school paper and business manager of the yearbook. Those experiences would influence his choice of journalism as a career. While studying at the University of Chicago and Northwestern University, Johnson worked for a life insurance company that marketed to African American customers. There he conceived the idea of a magazine for blacks, which became Negro Digest; its first issue in 1942 sold some 3,000 copies. From that beginning Johnson launched Ebony, a picture magazine catering to an African American audience, in 1945. Ebony's initial press run of 25,000 copies was completely sold out.

Johnson went on to create other black publications, including Jet magazine in 1951. His firm, Johnson Publishing Company, later diversified into such areas as book publishing, radio broadcasting, insurance, and cosmetics manufacturing. In the 1980s Linda Johnson Rice, his daughter, began assuming management of the company.