Ebony Magazine: How John H. Johnson Broke Invisible Racial Identity Barriers

Elijah Ingram

Senior Division

Paper

Length: 1784

Ingram 1 ​

In November of 1942, Johnson H. Johnson started what would become the most successful black magazine company in American history with his first publication of Negro ​ Digest. With this Johnson paved the way for a new kind of magazine and created a new ​ demographic of readers. With this simple publication, Johnson had broken a barrier that nobody at the time was even aware of. Three years later Johnson Publishing Company released their

1 flagship publication, Ebony and it took the media world by storm. Six years later Ebony's sister ​ ​ ​ publication, Jet, was released. Nobody had thought of making a nationwide magazine for African

Americans, so their only representation in the media came from white Americans. With the publication of these magazines, Johnson broke a barrier in African American representation-specifically in the media-and gave African Americans a nationwide voice.

Johnson had successfully created an outlet for positive representation of all members of the

African American community. Now African Americans weren't only being written about from a biased perspective, their own people were now the writers behind their stories. In the days before

Ebony, the overall majority of news regarding African Americans came from all-white outlets, ​ from racist headlines to outright slander, the black image in the media was altogether negative.

Now oppressive racial discrimination in the media was not the only representation of African

Americans, for now, there was a new source for black cultural empowerment in the country.

Johnson’s publication of Ebony magazine brought in a new era of black power and black pride ​ ​ for the country.

John H. Johnson grew up in a time when there was no equality between blacks and whites. Being born in 1918, he, unfortunately, had to live through a horrific time for African

1 See Appendix A. ​ Ingram 2 ​

Americans. The Jim Crow ideology was as strong as ever, The Ku Klux Klan had been revived, and race riots and lynchings such as the 1919 Red Summer and the Tulsa riots that together left

2 an estimated 300 African Americans dead, were rampant across the United States. Johnson spent his early years in Arkansas City, Arkansas, where there were no high schools that allowed black students. This led Johnson to repeat the 8th-grade multiple times in an attempt to continue his education. In 1933 Johnson and his family moved to Chicago where he finally got the

3 opportunity to attend high school. Johnson graduated with honors and, not long after graduating, began working at Supreme Life Insurance Company, an insurance company that provided affordable insurance for African Americans. In a time when even healthcare was segregated

Johnson was hit with the reality of all the things that white people had, yet blacks lacked.

Johnson wrote articles for Supreme Life Company, which not only reinvigorated his passion for publishing that had come to fruition back in his high school yearbook class but also inspired him to want to make an all-black business of his own.

Johnson conceived the idea of Negro Digest while working at Supreme Life. Though he ​ ​ was employed, he didn’t have enough money to bring his vision of the black Reader’s Digest to ​ ​ life. Thankfully, his mother allowed him to use her furniture in her house as security for a 500 dollar loan he took out to start his business. Nobody backed up Johnson with his idea so when he finished the first issue of Negro Digest, he had trouble getting it distributed. In 1942, nobody saw ​ ​ profit in African American magazines, and they weren’t exactly the most popular either. The only other black magazine at the time was The Crisis, the official magazine of the NAACP ​ ​

2 Richard Warner, "Computations as to the Deaths from the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot" (unpublished ​ manuscript, January 10, 2000) 3 John Harold Johnson and Lerone Bennett, Jr., Succeeding Against The Odds (n.p.: Johnson Publishing ​ ​ ​ Company, 1989) Ingram 3 ​ started by the famous W.E.B Du Bois. Sales of Negro Digest were initially low, only selling only ​ ​ 3,000 copies. But with each subsequent issue, the magazine became increasingly popular and the distribution area broadened. And with the publication of the renowned column, “If I Were a

Negro” the true scale of the magazine became apparent. With contributions from many prominent citizens to reflect on current racial issues, including the current First Lady, Eleanor

Roosevelt, the world was soon forced to see the reality of life for African Americans in the

4 United States. “If I were a Negro, I think I would have moments of great bitterness”, she said. It was at this moment that it became apparent that Johnson had created not only a stable magazine, but an influential one. Before this, nobody had thought an African American magazine would be successful, but time and time again John H. Johnson proved them wrong.

With the overwhelming success of his first magazine, Johnson decided to make a new magazine, one that would look more like Life magazine, and the journalism world changed ​ ​ forever. Johnson had taken the initial idea of Negro Digest and reinvented it with Ebony. Ebony ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ focused on successful black entrepreneurs and businessmen and women, looking at the success stories of black people in the segregated day to day life, and altogether empowered African

Americans across the country and gave them a view into the realistic and positive side of black life in America. When Ebony was first published in November of 1945, all 25,000 sold out ​ ​ 5 incredibly fast. Large companies quickly took notice of Ebony's success and saw it as an ​ ​ opportunity to advertise towards the black demographic. Companies like Coca-Cola, Budweiser,

4 John Harold Johnson and Eleanor Roosevelt, "Freedom: Promise or Fact," Negro Digest, October 1943, ​ ​ 8-9. 5 Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, "John H. Johnson," Encyclopaedia Britannica, last modified ​ January 15, 2020, accessed April 21, 2020, https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-H-Johnson#ref809361.

Ingram 4 ​ and many tobacco companies all commissioned ads that featured African Americans enjoying their products. This was yet another feat for the company for it brought the inclusion of African

Americans into advertising. As Ebony grew in popularity the magazine expanded its reach by ​ ​ showcasing and writing about black actors/actresses, athletes, politicians, and artists. With this development, more and more black stories were being told. Ebony became a showcase for black ​ ​ triumph in business, activism, politics, and beauty. Covers for the magazine always consisted of black influencers, and the articles inside were filled to the brim with black power. With the publication of lists spotlighting successful and influential African Americans, Ebony helped ​ ​ showcase the best of the best over the years. In the introduction to their 1993 Top 100 list, the

Ebony Team said "...the nature of Black influence has changed, and the number of Black ​ 6 influence-wielders has grown appreciably", when reflecting on their initial 1963 Top 100 list.

As the Civil Rights Movement rose in notoriety, Ebony magazine was there to cover every story ​ ​ in the fight for equal rights. As the years went on Ebony and Johnson Publishing Company as a ​ ​ whole grew and expanded greatly.

Over time, Ebony shifted its focus more towards its female audience, and with this, hit its ​ ​ peak of success. With the inclusion of hundreds of black models, Ebony had become the source ​ ​ of what the definition of black beauty truly was and soon came up with a whole new way to show the world what it was. With this came the Ebony Fashion Fair, yet another extension to

Johnson Publishing Company. The Ebony Fashion Fair was started by Eunice Johnson, John

Johnson’s wife, in 1958. Johnson Publishing Company had set out to show the world what black culture really was and even redefined it. Black models would travel the U.S with crowds of up to

6 "100 Most Influential Black Americans and Organization Leaders," Ebony, May 1993, 36-50. ​ ​ ​ Ingram 5 ​

5,000 coming to attend the fashion shows. Though fear of racist backlash caused many changes to the tour such as removing the Ebony Fashion Fair logo from the bus that they toured on. One model said, "It almost felt like steam coming up from the pavement. You could just feel it," ​ Handy says. "Our name was on our bus at one time ... Ebony Fashion Fair. And I remember them

7 taking our name off the bus so as not to call attention." Another unseen problem soon arose over ​ the years, models that participated "were mixing their own foundations because they had trouble

8 finding makeup to match their own complexion", Eunice Johnson noticed, as there were no makeup companies at the time that made makeup for women with darker skin. Companies once again didn’t see any success in creating anything made specifically for African Americans and ​ ​ continued to choose the racist idea of segregating goods. To overcome this new obstacle, Eunice

9 started up her own makeup line designed specifically for women of color. Another giant barrier broke. Along with Ebony Magazine, Fashion Fair makeup is still in production to this day. As

JPC continued to grow, the more impact they had on African American society and America as a whole.

John H. Johnson passed away on August 8th, 2005, leaving his daughter; Linda Johnson Rice, to take his position as CEO. Nine years later in 2014, Jet ceased magazine production and became only accessible through the internet. Two years after that in an attempt to avoid the liquidation of the publishing company, JPC sold its historic Chicago office, and then inevitably, its publications of Ebony and Jet to a firm called the `Clear View Group'. Unfortunately, even

7 Weekend Edition, "The Ebony Fashion Fair: Changing History On The Catwalk," hosted by Jacki Lyden, ​ ​ aired April 20, 2020 (first broadcast February 15, 2014), on Natl. Public Radio. 8 Robin Givhan, "What happened to Fashion Fair? Why the black cosmetics brand is so hard to find.," The ​ ​ Washington Post (Washington, D.C., United States of America), October 27, 2015, Style ​ 9 Ebony Hadley, "Ebony Fashion Fair: Defining African-Americans in Fashion," Ebony, last modified ​ September 3, 2019, accessed December 6, 2019, https://www.ebony.com/exclusive/ebony-fashion-fair-defining-african-americans-in-fashion/. Ingram 6 ​ after all of these attempts to keep John H. Johnson's first and only business afloat, Johnson

Publishing Company filed for liquidation almost a year ago, in April of 2019. With this came another problem. Over the years the publishing company had amassed 76 years worth of black history in their photo archives. The said photo archives were sold for 30 million dollars to

10 foundations to preserve the history of the magazines. Even with such a high price, everyone knew at the time that these photo archives were priceless, and needed to go into the right hands for the preservation of African American history.

When John H Johnson first began his career in publishing, he had no idea how successful and important his publications of Ebony magazine would become in American history. Johnson had unknowingly broken a barrier that nobody had ever seen before, one of race and representation.

Johnson sought out to empower black men and women through his uplifting representations of

'the black American' throughout the years. Johnson had created a beacon for black positivity, not only creating the most successful and largest business in America in his time but also helping shape what would become the 'black identity'. John H. Johnson's success was well known during his lifetime. One of his successes being that he was "the first African American on Forbes ​ 11 magazine’s list of the 400 wealthiest Americans.” Ebony’s publication broke cultural, racial, ​ and even gender barriers. Even though JPC has liquidated, Ebony is still being published to this day. The previously mentioned ‘Clear View Group’ was also an all-black business that continues

10 Syreeta McFadden, "Why Ebony Magazine's Archives Were Saved," The Atlantic, last modified July ​ 2019, accessed March 4, 2020, https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2019/07/ebony-magazine-archives-sold-nmaahc-getty/ 595171/.

11 Douglas Martin, "John H. Johnson, 87, Founder of Ebony, Dies," The New York Times (New York), ​ ​ ​ August 9, 2005, national edition, sec. A, accessed April 20, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/09/business/media/john-h-johnson-87-founder-of-ebony-dies.html. Ingram 7 ​

12 Johnson’s legacy of black positivity . In the end, the magazine company completed a full life cycle, but now it has been reborn under new management and will continue to be the source of many African American's uplifting and empowering news.

Appendix A ​

Cover of the first issue of Ebony magazine published on November 1st, 1945. 25,000 were

initially produced, and all copies sold out completely.

12 CVG Group, "About Us," CVG, last modified 2018, accessed April 22, 2020, ​ http://cvggroupllc.com/about-us/. Ingram 8 ​

Ebony, November 1, 1945, Ebony Media Operations, LLC ​ ​ ​

Appendix B

An example of an advertisement made specifically for Ebony magazine commissioned by

Coca-Cola. Ingram 9 ​

Ray McIver, "Coca-Cola," advertisement, Ebony Magazine, 1976, accessed April 22, 2020, ​ ​ https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/collection.

Bibliography

Primary Sources

"Boatengs Strut Their Stuff." Ebony, February 16, 2004, 40. ​ ​ This is a small article about Ozwald Boateng, a black British fashion designer, it is just one example of Jet showcasing prominent black figures.

Ebony, November 1, 1945. ​ This source is the first issue of Ebony. It gave me a look into how the first magazine looked and what the topics they sought to discuss were.

Jet Magazine. Aretha Franklin Covers JET Magazine in the April 20th Issue. April 20, 1967. Photograph. Accessed October 29, 2019. https://www.ebony.com/entertainment/aretha-franklins-top-20-ebony-jet-magazine-cover s/. This source shows off an example of the iconic people that covered Jet and Ebony Magazine; specifically the legendary Aretha Franklin.

Johnson, John Harold, and Lerone Bennett, Jr. Succeeding Against The Odds. N.p.: Johnson ​ ​ Publishing Company, 1989. This is the autobiography of John H. Johnson where he tells the story of his inspirations and how he worked hard to become a successful businessman. His story is a story of making it big while the odds were stacked against him.

Johnson, John Harold, and Eleanor Roosevelt. "Freedom: Promise or Fact." Negro Digest, ​ ​ October 1943, 8-9. This is a print of the original "If I Were a Negro" column titled "Freedom: Promise or Fact.", that First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt contributed to in 1943, putting the magazine in the spotlight.

McIver, Ray. "Coca-Cola." Advertisement. Ebony Magazine, 1976. Accessed April 22, 2020. ​ ​ https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/collection. This resource is a great example of the advertisements created by different companies specifically for Ebony magazine that were targeted towards African American readers. Ingram 10 ​

"The Miracle of 'Hela." Ebony, June 1976. ​ ​ Henrietta Lacks is famous for her "immortal cells" that have been used for years for research on diseases and medicine. Though her cells have helped a great number of people, the owner of the cells was never known until journalists began searching for the person behind it. Ebony was one of the first magazines to publish her real name and her story.

"100 Most Influential Black Americans and Organization Leaders." Ebony, May 1993, 36-50. ​ ​ This source gave me information about how Ebony presented the importance of black leaders and businessmen and women for the community. They do this by presenting their most influential and inspiring members of the black community.

Strobridge & Co. Lith. Wm. H. West's Big Minstrel Jubilee. 1900. Image. ​ ​ https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2014637077/. This source is an image of a poster used to advertise a comedian who used blackface as a spectacle. It shows how black people were represented by white people, in a stereotypical hateful way.

Weekend Edition. "The Ebony Fashion Fair: Changing History On The Catwalk." Hosted by ​ Jacki Lyden. Aired April 20, 2020 (first broadcast February 15, 2014), on Natl. Public Radio. This radio program gave me information about the Ebony Fashion Fair and even includes interviews with the former models. It even includes stories of opposition against the models when traveling.

Secondary Sources

Cross, Amy. "A Humble Trailblazer: Meet Mary Alexander, the First African-American Woman to Appear in Coca-Cola Advertising." Coca-Cola Company. Last modified April 12, 2013. Accessed November 4, 2019. https://www.coca-colacompany.com/stories/a-humble-trailblazer-meet-mary-alexander-th e-first-african-american-woman-to-appear-in-coca-cola-advertising. This source gave me information about some of the first African Americans to be included in advertisements in magazines and other places. It specifically talks about the first African American woman who appeared in an advertisement. These ads would be featured in black magazines since they were directed towards the culture.

CVG Group. "About Us." CVG. Last modified 2018. Accessed April 22, 2020. http://cvggroupllc.com/about-us/. This is the Clear View Group's website, it gave me information on the new owners of Ebony magazine's publishing rights.

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Dargis, Manohla, and A. O. Scott. "Hollywood, Separate and Unequal." The New York Times ​ (New York, NY), September 16, 2016, sec. AR. Accessed January 30, 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/18/movies/hollywood-separate-and-unequal.html. This article gave me a modern look at black representation in media and how it has grown and changed since the days of Jet and Ebony's start.

Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. "John H. Johnson." Encyclopaedia Britannica. Last modified January 12, 2000. Accessed April 21, 2020. https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-H-Johnson#ref809361. This source gave me information about the start and buildup of JPC and how it progressed over the years. It also points out some of John H. Johnson's triumphs as a businessman.

Entrepreneur Media. "John H. Johnson." Entrepreneur. Last modified October 10, 2008. Accessed November 11, 2019. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/197650. This source gave me information about Johnson's rise to success and the achievements he made along the way. It points out the changes in Johnson's vision for the company as he became more successful, and the problems the company faced in later years.

Givhan, Robin. "What happened to Fashion Fair? Why the black cosmetics brand is so hard to find." The Washington Post (Washington, D.C., United States of America), October 27, ​ ​ 2015, Style. Accessed April 20, 2020. https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/what-happened-to-fashion-fair-why-the- black-cosmetics-brand-is-so-hard-to-find/2015/10/27/17416cf0-72be-11e5-8d93-0af317e d58c9_story.html. This source gave me a more recent look into Ebony's makeup line, Ebony Fashion Fair. It also gave a brief history of how Eunice Johnson came up with the idea of a black cosmetics company.

Hadley, Ebony. "Ebony Fashion Fair: Defining African-Americans in Fashion." Ebony. Last modified September 3, 2019. Accessed December 6, 2019. https://www.ebony.com/exclusive/ebony-fashion-fair-defining-african-americans-in-fashi on/. This source gave me information about the Ebony Fashion Fair, which was a fashion fair that ONLY black models participated in with pieces specifically designed for them.

The History Makers. "John H. Johnson's Biography." The History Makers. Accessed November 1, 2019. https://www.thehistorymakers.org/biography/john-h-johnson-40. This source gave me specific information about John H. Johnson and how his publishing career came to be. The site also included an interview where Johnson describes how he came up with the idea for Negro Digest, his first publication.

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Johnson, Abby Arthur, and Ronald Maberry Johnson. Propaganda and Aesthetics. Amherst: ​ ​ University of Massachusetts, 1991. e-book. Excerpts from this book gave me information about the progress of African American Literature, specifically African American magazines.

Martin, Douglas. "John H. Johnson, 87, Founder of Ebony, Dies." The New York Times (New ​ ​ York), August 9, 2005, national edition, sec. A, 16. Accessed April 20, 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/09/business/media/john-h-johnson-87-founder-of-ebo ny-dies.html. This is the obituary of John H. Johnson. In this, the writer points out his upbringing and his accomplishments throughout his life.

McFadden, Syreeta. "Why Ebony Magazine's Archives Were Saved." The Atlantic. Last modified July 2019. Accessed March 4, 2020. https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2019/07/ebony-magazine-archives-sol d-nmaahc-getty/595171/. This web page gave me additional information about the history of Johnson Publishing Company's rise to success, and the legacy it leaves behind with its photo archives.

Miller, Lee, Bonnie Brennen, and Brendan Edgerton-Webster. The Construction of Readership in ​ Ebony, Essence and 0, the Oprah Magazine. January 1, 2005. Accessed December 17, ​ 2019. https://epublications.marquette.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1212&context=comm_fa c. This source gave me information about how African American culture was defined by African American magazines. It gives an in-depth analysis of how people were impacted by the release of these magazines.

Newkirk, Vann R., II. "America's Health Segregation Problem." The Atlantic. Last modified May 18, 2016. Accessed January 13, 2020. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/05/americas-health-segregation-proble m/483219/. This source gave me information about how segregation went as far as hospitals being segregated. Black people could not be treated at white hospitals and vice versa.

100 Photographs: Emmett Till. Produced by Paul Moakley and Kira Pollack. 2016. ​ This mini-documentary by TIME gave insight on the impact of Emmett Till's murder, and how a photographer for Jet magazine contributed to making the harsh reality of his murder apparent to who it mattered most by publishing photos of the boy's beaten body.

Opportunity Agenda. "Media Portrayals and Black Male Outcomes." The Opportunity Agenda. Accessed December 18, 2019. Ingram 13 ​

https://www.opportunityagenda.org/explore/resources-publications/media-representations -impact-black-men/media-portrayals. This source gave me information about unfair representations of black men in media. It goes over all of the aspects that go into the racial stereotypes and portrayals of African Americans in media.

Partin, Elliot. "FREEDOM'S JOURNAL (1827-1829)." BlackPast. Last modified January 4, 2011. Accessed December 18, 2019. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/freedom-s-journal-1827-1829/. This source gave me information about the first African American owned and operated newspaper. This was a huge step that eventually led to the creation of Ebony and plenty of other black-owned media.

Portland State University Library, ed. "Highlights from the Gates Collection of African American History and Culture." Portland State University Library Digital Exhibits. Last modified January 2011. Accessed October 7, 2019. https://exhibits.library.pdx.edu/exhibits/show/gates/jimcrow/negro-digest. This source gave me information about Johnson Publishing Company's first publication, Negro Digest, and it's impact on the African American community, as they ​ ​ now had a magazine specifically directed towards them. It also gave a small amount of information about it's most well-known column titled "If I Were a Negro".

Rhodes, Jane. "Race, Media, and Black Womanhood in the Early Twentieth Century." African American Intellectual History Society. Last modified April 24, 2017. Accessed December 17, 2019. https://www.aaihs.org/race-media-and-black-womanhood-in-the-early-twentieth-century/ . This source gave me information about how black women in the days before desegregation and the Civil Rights movement made their mark in society. Many used newspapers to get their message across, others went as far as film.

The Shadow League. "The Impact of Johnson Publishing on Black Media Shouldn't Be Forgotten." The Shadow League. Last modified April 11, 2019. Accessed October 23, 2019. https://theshadowleague.com. This site gave me a look at the impact of Ebony and Jet magazines on African American culture and media.

Staples, Brent. "The Radical Blackness of Ebony Magazine." New York Times, August 11, 2019, ​ ​ Opinion. Accessed October 3, 2019. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/11/opinion/ebony-jet-magazine.html. This source gave me information about the initial impact of the creation of Ebony magazine, along with the legacy that came after.

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Team Ebony. "Celebrating EBONY Magazine, Which Turns 75 in 2020: Then and Now." Ebony. Last modified November 1, 2016. Accessed November 7, 2019. https://www.ebony.com/black-history/ebony-magazine-anniversary/. This source is a collection of the most iconic Ebony magazine covers. This collection was made in celebration of Ebony's anniversary of its creation. It compares previous covers with more recent ones to show the evolution of the magazine and the topics still being raised.

Tell Me More. "White Cover Girl on a Black Magazine?" NPR. February 10, 2020 (originally ​ aired April 4, 2013). Hosted by Michel Martin, Galina Espinoza, and Kierna Mayo. This transcript gave me insight into the idea of the race issue brought up race-specific media. The hosts talked about the idea of having a white woman on the cover of a black magazine. This was the issue that inspired Johnson to make Ebony in the first place.

Warner, Richard. "Computations as to the Deaths from the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot." Unpublished manuscript, January 10, 2000. This manuscript from the Tulsa History Society & Museum gave me the estimates of the death toll of the Tulsa Race Riot, nearly 80 years after the fact.

Williams, Diahann. "JET Celebrating 65 Years of Black News and Views." Jet Magazine. Last modified November 1, 2016. Accessed November 4, 2019. https://www.jetmag.com/news/jet-65th-anniversary/. This source is a collection of iconic JET magazine covers and their importance in Black History.