John H. Johnson

Born John Harold Johnson, January 19, 1918, in Arkansas City, AR; died after a long illness, August 8, 2005, in Chicago, IL. Publisher. John H. Johnson built a media empire based on the immensely successful magazines Ebony and Jet in the years following World War II. Both were aimed at an African-American readership, and Ebony in particular became enormously influential in that community. Its founder would be remembered as “a pioneer in black journalism when a large part of America lived in the shadow of segregation and open racism,” noted Rupert Cornwell of London’s Independent newspaper.