Post by LIFE AND DEATH on Aug 12, 2005 0:41:06 GMT -5
Appreciation: John H. Johnson
By Dorothy Gilliam
John H. Johnson was already a publishing titan in 1957 when I went to work at JET magazine as a 20-year-old associate editor. His vision of assuaging the Black hunger for positive media images had first spawned Negro Digest in 1942. Three years later, in November 1945, he founded Ebony magazine, featuring sumptuous layouts and stories about Black celebrities and achievers in arts, politics and business.
Mr. J, as we called him, had started JET, the weekly news magazine in1951, and, once again, his formula of “giving Blacks a new sense of self-respect” became an instant hit. The pocket-sized publication, with its photographs of celebrities and newsmakers, became a must-read for Black Americans, the “bible” of African-American achievement and activity. “If you didn’t read it in the JET,” according to the old saying, “it didn’t happen yet.” Mr. Johnson, who died Monday of congestive heart failure, was a man of mythic proportions.
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Emmett Till's Impact
JET magazine was only seven years old when I went to work there, and it had come along at just the right time for us as Black people. It was the magazine’s standing that gave weight to the gruesome, shocking photo it published in 1955 of Emmett Till’s body. The 14-year-old Chicago boy had been lynched in Money, Miss., after he supposedly whistled at a White woman. It took raw courage for John Johnson to publish the Emmett Till photograph, because he ran the risk of being isolated or cut off by advertisers.
The Till photograph was catalytic in setting off the Civil Rights Movement. Emmett Till’s mother had bravely insisted on the casket being open, and thousands of mourners lined up to view the body. Not long afterward, on Dec. 1, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a White man on a bus in Montgomery, Ala., an act of courage that began turning the wheels of the Civil Rights Movement.
“Our mistreatment was just not right, and I was tired of it,” wrote Parks in her 1994 book, “Quiet Strength.” “I kept thinking about my mother and my grandparents, and how strong they were. I knew there was a possibility of being mistreated, but an opportunity was being given to me to do what I had asked of others.” Her bravery led to the emergence of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who became the Moses to lead his people out of bondage and change the nation.
Combatting Racism
By the time I arrived at JET in late fall 1957, we journalists began to sense that the Civil Rights Movement was about to occur. We also sensed that it was going to take place in the South where African Americans had to daily live with racism, segregation and Jim Crow laws. We also joked that it had to happen in the South because Blacks in Chicago were blind to subtle racism and thought they were already free. Mr. J, as a native of Arkansas City, Ark., was more realistic about what was happening than most Chicagoans.
I still remember, as a rookie journalist, watching Mr. J. walk jauntily around the JET newsroom, his hand in his pocket. He had a great sense of humor and was a consummate businessman and advertising salesman. Despite his talent for picking great journalists and other employees, he had his finger on every phase of the business – from the photographs and stories to the bottom line.
JET and Ebony were both housed under the same roof, and it was a handsome building on Michigan Avenue in Chicago. It had a dining room where employees ate, and the offices were a de rigueur stop for entertainers, all of whom wanted to be in the magazine. I remember Sammy Davis, Jr., dancing on top of a desk! The journalists were in a slightly rarefied position, and I was fortunate to have good mentors to talk to and help me keep it all in perspective.
International Influence
While we marveled at his ability to start publications that became famous among Black Americans, Johnson also had an impact that was worldwide. He incorporated an international perspective of Black people – African leaders and emerging personalities. I first met the dynamic young Kenyan leader Tom Mboya when he stopped by Johnson Publishing Company during his visit to America in 1958, and The Washington Post reported that Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia once complimented Johnson on his chronicles of Black progress.
Photographers loved him – The Exposure Group African American Photographers Association once named him as the best friend that Black photographers ever had.
After a couple of years, I moved on from Johnson Publishing Company because I wanted to be a daily newspaper reporter, but I never forgot my time there and always counted it as an honor to have worked for Mr. J.
John Johnson was iconic, and his significance was colossal. He built the world’s largest African-American publishing company and, in the process, expanded the scope of American media. I last saw him at Howard University after he donated $4 million to the School of Communication and the school was renamed for him. He’ll be missed by te of us who once worked for him, te who read his publications, and by the world of business that he turned upside down with his patience, persistence and genius.
By Dorothy Gilliam
John H. Johnson was already a publishing titan in 1957 when I went to work at JET magazine as a 20-year-old associate editor. His vision of assuaging the Black hunger for positive media images had first spawned Negro Digest in 1942. Three years later, in November 1945, he founded Ebony magazine, featuring sumptuous layouts and stories about Black celebrities and achievers in arts, politics and business.
Mr. J, as we called him, had started JET, the weekly news magazine in1951, and, once again, his formula of “giving Blacks a new sense of self-respect” became an instant hit. The pocket-sized publication, with its photographs of celebrities and newsmakers, became a must-read for Black Americans, the “bible” of African-American achievement and activity. “If you didn’t read it in the JET,” according to the old saying, “it didn’t happen yet.” Mr. Johnson, who died Monday of congestive heart failure, was a man of mythic proportions.
Advertisement
Emmett Till's Impact
JET magazine was only seven years old when I went to work there, and it had come along at just the right time for us as Black people. It was the magazine’s standing that gave weight to the gruesome, shocking photo it published in 1955 of Emmett Till’s body. The 14-year-old Chicago boy had been lynched in Money, Miss., after he supposedly whistled at a White woman. It took raw courage for John Johnson to publish the Emmett Till photograph, because he ran the risk of being isolated or cut off by advertisers.
The Till photograph was catalytic in setting off the Civil Rights Movement. Emmett Till’s mother had bravely insisted on the casket being open, and thousands of mourners lined up to view the body. Not long afterward, on Dec. 1, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a White man on a bus in Montgomery, Ala., an act of courage that began turning the wheels of the Civil Rights Movement.
“Our mistreatment was just not right, and I was tired of it,” wrote Parks in her 1994 book, “Quiet Strength.” “I kept thinking about my mother and my grandparents, and how strong they were. I knew there was a possibility of being mistreated, but an opportunity was being given to me to do what I had asked of others.” Her bravery led to the emergence of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who became the Moses to lead his people out of bondage and change the nation.
Combatting Racism
By the time I arrived at JET in late fall 1957, we journalists began to sense that the Civil Rights Movement was about to occur. We also sensed that it was going to take place in the South where African Americans had to daily live with racism, segregation and Jim Crow laws. We also joked that it had to happen in the South because Blacks in Chicago were blind to subtle racism and thought they were already free. Mr. J, as a native of Arkansas City, Ark., was more realistic about what was happening than most Chicagoans.
I still remember, as a rookie journalist, watching Mr. J. walk jauntily around the JET newsroom, his hand in his pocket. He had a great sense of humor and was a consummate businessman and advertising salesman. Despite his talent for picking great journalists and other employees, he had his finger on every phase of the business – from the photographs and stories to the bottom line.
JET and Ebony were both housed under the same roof, and it was a handsome building on Michigan Avenue in Chicago. It had a dining room where employees ate, and the offices were a de rigueur stop for entertainers, all of whom wanted to be in the magazine. I remember Sammy Davis, Jr., dancing on top of a desk! The journalists were in a slightly rarefied position, and I was fortunate to have good mentors to talk to and help me keep it all in perspective.
International Influence
While we marveled at his ability to start publications that became famous among Black Americans, Johnson also had an impact that was worldwide. He incorporated an international perspective of Black people – African leaders and emerging personalities. I first met the dynamic young Kenyan leader Tom Mboya when he stopped by Johnson Publishing Company during his visit to America in 1958, and The Washington Post reported that Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia once complimented Johnson on his chronicles of Black progress.
Photographers loved him – The Exposure Group African American Photographers Association once named him as the best friend that Black photographers ever had.
After a couple of years, I moved on from Johnson Publishing Company because I wanted to be a daily newspaper reporter, but I never forgot my time there and always counted it as an honor to have worked for Mr. J.
John Johnson was iconic, and his significance was colossal. He built the world’s largest African-American publishing company and, in the process, expanded the scope of American media. I last saw him at Howard University after he donated $4 million to the School of Communication and the school was renamed for him. He’ll be missed by te of us who once worked for him, te who read his publications, and by the world of business that he turned upside down with his patience, persistence and genius.