JOHNSON, JOHN H(AROLD)

born Jan. 19, 1918, Arkansas City, Ark., U.S. Johnson, 1974 American magazine and book publisher, the first black American to attain major success in those fields. Johnson's mother decided to settle in Chicago while visiting that city in 1933 to see the World's Fair. The young Johnson was an honour student at Du Sable High School in Chicago. He was managing editor of the school paper and business manager of the yearbook and decided on journalism as a career. He later studied at the University of Chicago and Northwestern University, while working for a life insurance company catering to blacks. There he conceived the idea of a magazine for blacks, which became Negro Digest; its first issue (1942) sold some 3,000 copies. From that beginning Johnson launched /a>Ebony, a picture magazine for blacks, in 1945. Ebony's initial press run of 25,000 copies was completely sold out. By 1967 the magazine, modified in format and content, had a circulation of more than 1,000,000. Johnson went on to create other black magazines, and then moved into publishing black-oriented books, all published by Johnson Publishing Co. Later he diversified into such areas as radio broadcasting, insurance, and cosmetics manufacturing.